
Class. _ S V<9 t'^ 
Book _^» /tL 7 A^. 
Copyright N" 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




^'^-^^^/O.i^^,^^^:^^^. 




AGRICULTURE 



FOR THE 



COMMON SCHOOLS 



BY 

JAMES B. HUNNICUTT 

Editor "The Southern Cultivator." 



THE CULTIVATOR PUBLISHING.COMPANY 
publishers of 
"The Southern Cultitator" 
Atlanta, Ga. 
1903 



THE LItiRAKY OF 
CONGRESS. 

Two Copies Received 

FEB 12 1903 

^ Copyiight tntiy 

CLASS C*^ XXc. No. 
^ 2. «• ^ / 

COPY B. 



Copyright, 1903, by James B. Hunnieutt 






Press of the Foote & Davies Co., Atlanta. 



PKEFACE. 

Plow deep and on a level, 
In peace and plenty revel. 

That is science as well as rhyme. Pulverize the 
soil and get pay for your toil. The farmer feeds 
and clothes the millions. To help him do this with 
pleasure and profit is the mission of this little book. 
Every farmer in the South should have this helper 
at hand and learn to take more pride in being a 
farmer. 

The first thing, except one, that we remember in 
this world, we shouldered our hoe and marched off 
to the cotton-field. So we were taught to plow and 
to hoe, to reap and to mow, and always keep up 
with our row. Through life we have continued to 
study soil and plants. We have found pleasure and 
profit in learning how to make the soil grow good 
crops. 

Now, in response to a thousand requests, we have 
tried to tell how to do this. 

But if farming ever reaches the place among other 
callings M'hich it should have, it will be when we 
have taught our children its beauty and its rank in 
the schoolroom. Agriculture should be taught in 
every school. 

AVe have made it so simple that any teacher can 
use this book, even if entirely ignorant of the prin- 
ciples of Agriculture or the practices of farming. 

The questions will help the teacher and the student. 

Ill 



IV PKEFACE 

But in so small a space we could only be suggest- 
ive, not exhaustive. Hence the wide-awake teacher 
can enlarge and illustrate. 

We think the student who has studied this book 
will see the world with different e3^es. 

Every one wishes to own a farm before he dies. 
Let us all make pretty homes, so that the}'' may 
have a lovely home if they get one. 

City life has been absorbing the brain and beauty 
of the country. And they need it. But we can 
not afford to spare so much of our young manhood 
and womanhood as we have been doing. We must 
keep the young folks on the farm. 

Many books have been written on Agriculture, but 
they are all more or less treatises on agricultural 
chemistry. We have avoided this channel. While 
we adhere strictly to scientific truth, we have used 
plain language. Technical terms have been left 
out. We have tried to write so that every child 
could understand. How we have succeeded we 
must leave you to judge. Industrial education is 
the demand of the day. Agriculture is the largest 
and most important of the industries. Heretofore 
it has been at the bottom. Let us now see that it 
is placed at the top. 

To do this we must educate the farmers. The 
world will respect brains. If we make ourselves 
the equals of other callings in intellect, then we will 
be as much respected, and not until then. 

We need as much skill to grow plants as the doc- 
tor does to give pills, or the lawyer to clear crim- 
inals. 



PREFACE T 

It takes as much brains to run a four-horse farm 
as to run a bank or a railroad. The farmer car- 
ries all. 

If the farmer fails 

And can not buy, 
Then the merchant's goods 
Upon his shelf must lie. 

If the farmer fails 

And has nothing to sell, 
Then the banker's account 

Does not swell. 

If the farmer fails 

And has nothing to ship, 
The railroad-train 

Makes an empty trip. 

If the farmer fails 

And hasn't the money he ought. 
Then the lawyer's fee 

Drops down a naught. 

If the farmer fails 

And hasn't the bills, 
Then the doctor 

Ceases to roll his pills. 

If the farmer fails 

And can not pay, 
The school-teacher's account 

Waits for another day. 

If the farmer fails. 

As sometimes fail he must, 
Then the whole country 

Just gets on a bust. 

But if the farmer succeeds. 

As succeed he should, 
We all look happy 

And we all feel good. 

For upon our broad shouldera 

Ail the rest do lie. 
And sometimes the pile 

Gets very, very high. 

Success to the farmer. 

James B. Hunnicutt. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter 

I. Man's Chief Pursuit . . . . 

II. Agriculture as a Science 

III. Something of the History of Agriculture 

IV. The Soil 

V. Composition and Kinds of Soil 

VI. Uses of the Soil 

VII. Soil as a Workshop 

VIII. Preservation and Improvement of Soil 

IX. Other Points About Soil 

X. Plants— How They Grow . 

XI. Uses and Abuses of Water on the Farm 

XII. Plants and the Atmosphere 

XIII. Manures and Fertilizers 

XIV. How to Use Manures and Fertilizers 
XV. Planting .... 

XVI. Selecting Seed 

XVII. Preparing the Soil for Planting 

XVIII. Cultivation .... 

XIX. Gathering and Housing 

XX. Marketing Crops 
XXI. Investing Profits 

XXII. Farm Labor 

XXIII. Farm Implements 

XXIV. Farm Animals 
XXV. Grass Culture 

XXVI. Truck-Farming 

XXVII. Dairy-Farming . • . 

XXVIII. Stock-Growing 



Page 

1 

5 

8 

12 

18 

21 

26 

29 

35 

id 

47 

57 

61 

72 

81 

88 

92 

96 

101 

109 

114 

118 

125 

134 

144 

154 

162 

170 



VIII CONTENTS 

XXIX. Poultry-Farming 175 

XXX. Bee-Keeping 179 

XXXI. Farm and Public Roads .... 188 

XXXII. Farm Buildings ...... 193 

XXXIII. Village Farming 199 

XXXIV. Forestry 203 

XXXV. The Farmer as a Citizen . . . . 206 

XXXVI. The Farmer Should Be Educated . . 209 

XXXVII. Appendix—Useful Tables ... 214 



Agriculture for the 
Common Schools. 



CHAPTER I. 







GRICULTURE is the noblest pursuit of 
man. Before he fell, Adam dressed the 
Garden of Eden. Partaking of forbidden 
fruit was the cause of the fall. The sentence pro- 
nounced upon fallen man was that "in the sweat of 
thy face shalt thou eat bread." The sentence pro- 
nounced upon the ground Wi.s that "thorns and 
thistles shall it bring forth to thee." The result of 
these two sentences remains in full force to this day. 
The evil growth is spontaneous. The good must 
be cultivated, and from this cultivation all the race 
must eat their bread. This means that we can not 
live without cultivating the ground. We must de- 



2 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

stroy evil and useless plants and keep good and in- 
nocent plants. The work necessary to do this is 
called Agriculture. This word means plowing the 
field, and is used because the plow is the principal 
tool used in growing crops. 

All other pursuits, callings and professions among 
men grow out of the necessities of the agriculturist, 
and are largely dependent upon him for their sup- 
port. The farmer needed tools with which to culti- 
vate his crops, hence the blacksmith came into use. 
He needed houses, and thus called for the carpen- 
ter's skill. The blacksmith and carpenter needed 
iron and steel, and hence the miner was called for. 
The farmer needed schools for his children, that 
they might not grow up in ignorance, and here 
came in the teacher. His religious wants called for 
the preacher, and his legal rights demanded govern- 
ment and laws, and hence lawyers, judges and 
officers of all ranks came in due time to serve the 
farmer's necessities. Disease called for the doctor, 
and increased trade called for traders and transpor- 
tation, and all the mechanism of banking and com- 
merce have sprung into existence to serve his wants 
and wishes. 

Successive generations have multiplied these. 
Science, art and invention have contributed to the 
rapid development of society, and now we see a 
vast complex civilization dependent upon mining, 
manufacture and agriculture for a support. 

Agriculture is easily the chief of these three, be- 
cause we can not live without bread, and bread 



MAN'S CHIEF PURSUIT 3 

grows from the ground. " The King himself is fed 
from the field." No amount of education, learning, 
science, invention, industry, or skill can do away 
with the necessity for cultivating the ground. The 
more these increase and flourish, the greater the 
need for the products of the farm. They only in- 
crease the number of non-producers to be clothed, 
fed and sustained by the cultivators of the soil. 
The farmer must feed himself and his family as well 
as all these others, so we see he is the most useful man 
of all. His calling, pursuit or profession is there- 
fore the most useful of all professions. If this is 
true, it should be considered the most honorable, 
but for many reasons it is not so considered. These 
reasons we will examine later on when you will be 
prepared to understand them better. Most young 
people, and very many old people, think it is more 
desirable to be a professional man, such as doctor, 
merchant, banker, lawyer, and so on, than to be a 
laboring man, and many prefer to labor at any 
work in the shade rather than in the sunshine. We 
have thus come to look upon farming as the least 
honorable of all the pursuits. The chief reason for 
this is the fact that we have taught our educated 
children to go into other pursuits, and uneducated, 
or less educated, to go to the farm. 

Brains control muscles. Men will respect brains. 
That pursuit or profession which has the largest 
education will be the most honored. In the past 
Agriculture has not been taught in the common 
schools. In the future we hope and expect it will 



4 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

be. This book will try to help bring about this 
chaDge. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What is the noblest pursuit of man? 2. When did he be- 
gin it? 3. What caused the fall of man? 4. What sentence 
was pronounced upon man? 5. What sentence was pro- 
nounced upon the earth? 6. What was the result? 7. How 
are we to live? 8. Why is this called Agriculture? 9. Whence 
came other pursuits? 10. Tell how each was called for. 11. 
What has caused them to increase? 12. What three pursuits 
make the foundation? 13. Which is the chief of these? 14. 
Can anything take its place? 15. What does growth do? 16. 
Who is the most useful, and why? 17. How does he rank? 
18. How should he rank? 19. How do young people feel 
about it? 20. What is the result? 21. Why? 22. What rules? 
23. Has Agriculture been taught in the common schools? 



AGRICULTURE AS A SCIENCE 



CHAPTER II. 




OD has made this world by law. He has 
so arranged everything in it, both in the 
moral and physical universe, that there are 
no accidents. All things continue to exist by defi- 
nite fixed laws. 

Science is what man knows about God's laws. Chem- 
istry is what we know about the laws that control 
the movements and existence of the ultimate mi- 
nute atoms and molecules of matter. Physics is what 
we have learned of the laws that regulate larger 
bodies of matter. Hence, we speak of the Science 
of Chemistry, the Science of Physics, meaning not all 
that God knows about these things, but what we 
have learned of His laws concerning them. 

The earth or soil was created and adapted to 
cause seed to germinate, or sprout, and grow under 
certain conditions. Seeds are so made that under 
certain conditions they will sprout and grow in the 
soil. Neither of these takes place by accident. They 



6 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

always act according to laws. These laws are fixed, 
definite and certain in their action. Seeds do not 
produce plants until the conditions are complied 
with. They always produce them when the condi- 
tions or laws of their life are complied with. 
When these conditions, one and all, are fulfilled, 
they produce seed after their kind and die. When 
these conditions fail or are violated, they die before 
Ihey have completed their work, or produce a sickly 
plant of little value. These conditions are laws 
which God has made by which plants grow. These 
laws are as definite as the laws of chemistry or 
physics, or any other science known to the human 
mind. We know many of them as clearly and cer- 
tainly as we know the laws of any other science. 
Therefore, we are justified in saying that Agriculture 
is a science. Not only is this triie, but it is the 
greatest of all physical sciences. All of the others 
are more or less related to this, and grow out of this 
science. 

Chemistry is largely a science of the growth and 
uses of plants and soils, and the elements that enter 
into soil composition and plant-life. 

Physics is largely a knowledge of the laws that 
control the elements of plant life, growth and utili- 
zation. Heat, light, electricity, moisture, winds, 
gaseous movements, and such, are all contributory 
to healthy plant-growth. 

Agriculture does not stop with the study of soils 
and plants, but has much to do with animal life 
and development, "All flesh is grass," and the 
growing, handling, caring for and using of animals 



AGRICULTURE AS A SCIENCE 7 

is a very important part of every successful farmer's 
work. Bee-farming, poultry-farming, dairy-farm- 
i]ig, cattle-growing, and many more instances show 
that animal industries are a part of farm economy. 
The insects and birds contribute to our success or 
failure as they are harmful or helpful. Even micro- 
scopic life often enters largely into the account of 
success or failure. All the way from the microscopic 
to the telescopic worlds, we are much concerned. 
The heavens are scanned and the seasons foretold 
and "weather probabilities" forecast for our benefit. 
Agriculture touches all nature when the interest 
of living man is considered. It is indeed the largest 
of all sciences. No other science proposes to take 
the unorganized and organize it, to give life to the 
sleeping germ and growth to the silent dust. If it 
does not create, it brings us into the closest contact 
with the Creator. To know the laws which govern 
the life, health and growth of plants and animals is 
to know the science of Agriculture. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What is the subject of this chapter? 2. How has God 
made everything ? 3. What is a science? 4. What is chem- 
istry? 5. What is physics? 6. What do we mean by the 
science of each ? 7. What is tho relation of soil to seed ? 
8. How do they act to each other? 9. What of seed to soil? 
10. What are the laws of seed life? 11. Are they certain? 
12. May we know them ? 13. What do we conclude? 14. How 
does Agriculture rank as a science? 15. What of chemistry 
and Agriculture ? 16. What of physics and Agriculture? 17. 
Does Agriculture take in animal life? 18. Why? 19. Does it 
include insects and birds ? 20. What about microscopic life? 
21. How far does Agriculture reach ? 22. What does this 
science propose? 



8 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER III. 




E can not give space for anything like a com- 
plete liistor}', nor can we get satisfactory 
information if we had the room. Agricul- 
ture has received very little attention from histo- 
rians. We get glimpses here and there which 
throw some light upon its condition through all the 
ages past. 

In the times of which Moses wrote, some enor- 
mous crops were grown in Egypt, but very little is 
said about the methods used. It seems to have been 
the exceeding richness of the soil that lay along the 
Nile, rather than the methods of cultivation. But 
we are not at liberty to conclude that the grapes of 
Eschol were a wild growth. In after years the chil- 
dren of Israel made the land of Canaan yield such 
abundant crops of all kinds that we must believe 
that their methods of culture were not very rude. 
That country will not to-day support one tenth of 



HISTOKY OF AGRICULTURE 9 

the population which then lived in great luxury 
upon it. 

The Romans gave great attention to their farms. 
Many of their best statesmen and orators prided 
themselves upon their skill in conducting their 
farms and the beauty of their country homes. 
Virgil gives minute description of their fruit-farms. 

But we find the oldest nations, like China, still 
pursuing very crude methods of farming. They 
use very poor instruments and have but very little 
skill and science. So of many other old countries, 
which pride themselves in running their history 
back for many centuries. 

But we feel justified in saying that the people 
who have farmed best have been the strongest peo- 
ple, and have had most influence upon the world's 
history and growth in all that is good. But the 
Science of Agriculture is a new science. Very little 
seems to have been known of soil adaption to plant 
production until comparatively recent years. The 
study of the laws of plant germination and growth 
is still more recent. It has been hardly half a cen- 
tury since this study took definite shape and sys- 
tematic form. The application of plant analysis to 
the products of the farm and thus finding the wants 
of plants and how they were to be supplied has 
wrought a revolution in farming. 

We no longer grow plants as if it were by accident. 
We may now know what any plant wants for break- 
fast, and how it will have it served. We know 
many of the laws which regulate plant-life. 



10 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

Since we have entered upon this new era of farm- 
ing, we can teach with certainty how to succeed in 
many lines of Agriculture. 

England, Germany, France, the United States 
and all civilized nations have established schools, 
experiment stations and colleges for the instruction 
of their farmers in this great and useful science. 

Our government has donated money to maintain 
one such station and college in each State and Ter- 
ritory. Able faculties are maintained in each of 
these colleges to teach the young men of the coun- 
try to farm scientifically. 

Many books are written annually and numerous 
journals published to help spread this valuable 
knowledge among those who can not go to the 
schools and colleges, and perhaps in a few years the 
science and art of Agriculture will be taught to some 
extent in every public school in this nation. They 
are already so taught in England, France and 
Canada. This little book hopes to assist in this 
work. 

So we see this science, so long neglected or 
little known, after having slumbered for nearly 
six thousand years, now at the dawn of the last cen- 
tury of the six thousand years, coming right to the 
front and claiming to be equal in importance to 
any. 

The chemistry side has already demanded and 
received a prodigious amount of attention, and any 
number of books on that subject flood the market. 
What is needed now is a few good books, written by 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 11 

men of large experience in farming, upon the prac- 
tical side of this great subject. 

The laws are known and the theories are numer- 
ous and good. We need the theory put into prac- 
tice, so as to show its correctness and value. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What does this chapter discuss? 2. Is the history com- 
plete? 3. What do we learn from Moses? 4. What from Ca- 
naan under the Israelites? 5. What of its present condition? 
6. What of Roman farming? 7. What of China and other old 
countries? 8. What may we say? 9. Is the science old? 10^ 
How far back does plant study go? 11. What has this study 
wrought? 12. What do we know? 13. What can we teach? 
14. What have civilized nations done? 15. What has the 
United States done? 16. What of books? 17. What are col- 
leges and schools doing? 18. What do we now see? 19. What 
is chemistry doing? 20. What do •vre need? 



12 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER IV. 




AVING considered the general subject in its 
relation to other science, and proven, as we 
think, the right of Agriculture to be called 
a science, and given a very brief outline of its his- 
tory, we will take up the subject itself. 

The first thing in fact and importance is the soil. 
This is the farmer's capital. He can do no business 
at all without it. If he has no soil he can do no 
farming. If he has a fair quality of soil he can do 
fairly good farming. If he has a good rich soil he 
can farm with pleasure and profit. The soil is the 
foundation. Without it he can not build at all. 
With it he may build all kinds of failures or sue. 
cesses, as he works with intelligence or ignorance- 
What then is the soil? Where does it begin? 
Where does it end ? What is it made of? These 
and many other questions must be answered before 
the farmer will know exactly how to proceed. 

The soil is the top of the earth. It has no fixed 



THE SOIL 13 

depth, color or fertility. All of these vary in dif- 
ferent places and may be made to vary at any 
place. We speak of soil and subsoil as though they 
were very different. This is not always the case. 
We generally call that part of the earth soil which 
is more or less loose and colored. Generally this 
color is a little darker than the earth below. This 
coloring has been given to the soil by the rotting of 
vegetable matter. It is not a necessary quality of 
soil, but a deep dark color generally shows that the 
soil is ready to make large crops. We commonly 
say it is rich. The looseness is caused, in forest 
lands, by the roots. The living roots have pressed 
the particles apart. The dead roots have rotted and 
left holes. Dead and rotted leaves and branches 
have helped to do the same, and numerous worms 
and insects have also aided in the work. In the 
cultivated fields the looseness has been caused by 
plows, harrows, decaying roots, and similar work by 
worms and insects. The parts of the growing crops 
which are left in the fields also help in giving loose- 
ness and color to the soil. 

There is no fixed line between soil and subsoil. 
The subsoil begins at the bottom of the soil whether 
that be deep or shallow. These terms are relative, 
not absolute. When any part of the earth's crust or 
surface has become loose and ready to give up its 
plant-food, that part is soil. Any part below, which 
is hard and holds its plant-food in a condition which 
plants can not readily use, is called subsoil. Some- 
times we find the subsoil at the surface. This is 



14 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

seen on the hillsides where the rains have washed 
the soil away. The action of air, sunshine, heat, 
cold, and moisture will soon turn the exposed sub- 
soil into soil. 

Not only does the depth and fertility differ at dif- 
ferent places, but they may be made to differ greatly 
at any given place. 

The soil on hillsides is generally shallow, because 
the looser parts are readily carried away by winds 
and rains. Such are apt to be poor also, because 
the finer parts are the richer parts, and as they are 
taken away the soil is left poorer. Exactly opposite 
is the case in low places, in the upland fields, and 
in the bottom lands along the streams. Water and 
winds have been for ages depositing the finer par- 
ticles, taken from the hills, in these valleys until 
they are very rich. Sometimes the soils in such 
places are several feet deep. 

The annual overflow of the Nile deposited the 
soil brought from the hills and mountains of interior 
Africa upon the sands of Egypt, and thus made the 
soil very rich. These plains have produced enor- 
mous crops of grain since the days of Joseph, and con- 
tinue to do so still. The Mississippi does a very 
similar work in our own country. The soil along 
the basin through which this "Father of Waters" 
flows is of unknown deepness and inexhaustible fer- 
tility. 

So, you see, we have soils of all depths, from the 
Mississippi Delta to the naked hill — from one hun- 
dred feet to nothing. 



THE SOIL 15 

The soil was made from the subsoil, and the same 
agencies which have done this work in the past are 
still active. We can help them in this work. 

By studying any cultivated field, we will find 
that just below the soil is a hard subsoil. This is 
the result of the pressure of the mule's foot, the 
man's foot, and the plow's foot upon the subsoil. 
This is very often too wet, when the top soil is not 
too wet. When we stir earth and water together, 
we make mud. When we dry the mud it becomes 
more or less hard. By going over the fields very 
often, we have done the same to the subsoil, and as 
it has dried behind us, it becomes harder and 
harder. This is very hard in many farms. You 
can feel the plow grate upon it as you go over it. 
This hard layer is from four to eight inches deep, 
according to the age of the field, kind of subsoil, 
and wetness or dryness when plowed over. It is 
called "hard-pan." In many places it is so hard 
and close that water can hardly pass through. Be- 
low this hard-pan the earth is more or less porous. 

This hard-pan very greatly affects the yield of 
the ground. It is very important for the farmer to 
understand its nature, the cause of it, the effect of it, 
and how to get rid of it. If a farmer plows six inches 
deep, his soil will be six inches deep. If now he 
takes a larger plow or runs twice in the same fur- 
row and goes two inches deeper, his soil will be 
made deeper. If he goes four inches, his soil will 
be made still deeper and his hard-pan thinner. If 
he goes entirely through the hard-pan and reaches 



16 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

the porous earth his soil will be very deep. The 
six inches of subsoil will make more than six inches 
of soil. If a cubic foot of rock be broken into a thou- 
sand particles, the pieces can not be put into a cubic 
foot of space. It will occupy much more space, be- 
cause of the space between the fragments filled with 
air. 

Now this will be true of the hard-pan. When 
broken by the plow and made still finer by the har- 
row and still finer by the frost, gases, air, and 
water, there will be from fourteen to eighteen inches 
of soil, instead of four or six. Not only will the 
depth of the soil be greatly increased, but the fertility 
will also be greatly increased. It is a law, which 
we will explain further on, that other things being 
equal, the finer the particles of any soil the more 
fertile the soil. 

We then see that soil is the decomposed surface of 
the earth. The deeper the decomposition, the deeper 
the soil. The depth of this decomposition can be 
greatly increased by good work or deep plowing, 
and greatly decreased by bad plowing or stirring the 
earth when too wet. In other words the farmer can 
make or unmake his soil. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. Of what does this chapter treat? 2. What have we con- 
sidered? 3. What is the farmer's capital? 4. What can he do 
with it? 5. What should he know about it? 6. What is true 
of soil? 7. What is commonly called soil? 8. What is said 
about the color of the soil? 9. What makes new soil loose? 10. 
What makes old soil loose? 11. Where does soil cease and sub- 
soil begin? 12. Is subsoil ever at the surface? 13. What does 



THE SOIL 17 

nature then do and how? 14. Are depth and fertility uniform? 
15. What of hillside Boils and why? 16. What of lowland 
soils? 17. What of the Nile soil? 18. What of the Mississippi 
Valley? 19. How deep are soils? 20. From what are they 
made? 21. What do we find in most fields? 22. What has 
made it? 23. How deep is it? 24. What do we call it? 25. 
What effect has it upon crops? 26. Is it important to know 
this? 27. Explain the figure and how to proceed. 28. Does 
hard or loose soil occupy more room? 29. How deep is the soil 
when hard-pan is broken? 30. What is the effect on fertility? 
31. What is the law? 32. What have we found true? 



18 AGRIOULTUKE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 
CHAPTER V. 

' COMPOSITION 



jjtoi^«»._X 




I OILS differ somewhat in their composition. 
Some contain a very large per cent, of sand 
and are called sandy soils. Such soils hav^ 
about seventy per cent. sand. 

Clay soils have about the same per cent, of clay. 
Soils which have about one-half clay and one-half 
sand are called loamy soils. When they have more 
sand than clay, about sixty per cent, sand and forty 
per cent, clay, they are called sandy loams. If they 
have more clay, about sixty per cent., and less sand, 
about forty per cent., they are called clay loam. We 
find, then, sandy soils, clay soils, and loamy soils, 
and as the relative quantities of sand and clay vary 
we find all shades between. This classification is 
based entirely upon the mechanical structure of the 
soil. Sand is the name given to coarse particles 
and clay the name given to fine particles. 

Soils are different in color also. Hence we have 



COMPOSITION AND KINDS OF SOIL 19 

light, dark, red and black soils, and all shades be 
tween. Perhaps gray and red are most common in 
Georgia. Again we have names given, on account 
of the power to produce vegetation. We have poor 
soils, which will not yield large crops, and rich soils, 
which will yield large crops, and barren soils, which 
will not yield any crops. There are many other 
causes which give special names, but it is not neces- 
sary here to give all these, as they will generally 
explain themselves. 

All soils are composed of different substances, 
which are called elements. Some of these are alumi- 
num, quartz, feldspar, iron, potash, lime, phos- 
phoric acid, magnesia, soda, and humus. There are 
also present in all soils water and gases, such as 
oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon. And 
these, as we shall see, exert a powerful influence 
upon the soil. 

Humus is, perhaps, not an original element. It 
is thought to be the result of decomposition of vege- 
table matter, but it is so important that we have 
thought it best to give it a place in the list. A soil 
which has no humus will not produce vegetable 
growth worth anything, whether it be sand, clay 
or loam. 

Many soils are somewhat sandy on top and have 
a stiff" red clay below. Such soils are apt to be good 
and capable of indefinite improvement, but if the 
subsoil be a white sand or a pipe-clay, the soil is 
generally poor and apt to remain so. 



20 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What do we now study? 2. What is a sandy soil? 3. 
What is a clay soil ? 4. What is a sandy loam ? 5. What is a 
clayey loam? 6. On what is the difference based ? 7. How else 
do soils differ? 8. What are fertile soils? 9. What are poor 
soils ? 10. What are barren soils ? 11. What elements compose 
the soil? 12. What is humus? 13. What is the effect of the 
subsoil ? 



USES OF THE SOIL 



21 



CHAPTER VI. 




HE soil serves to hold the plant up against 
the wind and its own weight. To do this, 
it must furnish a good root-bed. If the 
soil be too compact, the tender rootlets can not find 
their way through. If the soil be too loose, it will 
not hold the heavy tops of the plants against storms 
and accidents. Thus we see that the soil should be 
full of pores but not too loose. Sandy soils are gen- 
erally quite loose. The particles are not held to- 
gether by cohesive attraction. Hence, tender roots 
grow very rapidly in sandy soils. Clayey soils are 
more compact. The spongioles on the tips of young 
roots can not get between the particles so easily.- 
This is why transplanted vegetables grow off quicker 
in sandy soils. For the same reason sand or sandy 
soils are better for rooting cuttings of all kinds. 

Many plants desire to strike their roots deep down 
in the earth. Trees and heavy-topped plants of all 



22 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

sorts find this necessary. Hence, the porosity of 
the soil must be deep to do its full work. 

The soil not only holds the plant up, but in a 
very important sense feeds it. It is true that a very 
small part of the plant is taken directly from the 
soil, but that small part is the very life of the plant. 
If it is not present the other parts can not do their 
work. Much of the food furnished to plants from 
the air and other sources must be worked over in 
the earth before the plant can use it. 

So we see that soil is not only a root-bed but 
also a food-bed and a workshop for plant growth. 
Neither of these latter purposes can be secured if 
the soil be too compact. Circulation is the law of 
plant-life, and for circulation there must be room. 
The mere mechanical texture of the soil then be- 
comes very important. 

Through the soil comes the sap. Hence the soil 
must be also a water-bed. Here must be received ^ 
kept, and furnished an ample supply of water. This 
supply must not only be sufficient to give the sap, 
or circulating matter in the plant, but also to dis- 
solve and hold in solution an abundant quantity of 
plant-food ready for use when called for. Nearly 
three-fourths of living vegetation is water. About 
ninety-seven per cent, of the solid part is from the 
air, and only about three per cent, from the soil. 
In many plants, such as the watermelon, only about 
one per cent, comes directly from the ground, but 
nearly all that makes up the plant comes through 



USES OF THE SOIL 23 

the roots. It is very important to study and know 
the soil. 

We get at the above facts in the following simple 
way : We take a quantity of vegetable matter and 
dry it thoroughly. We find that a large part of its 
weight is gone. We conclude that this was water, 
and that we have driven it back to a state of vapor, 
as it ever was in nature. We then go a step further 
and burn the dry matter, and we find that a very 
large part of it, about ninety -seven per cent., has 
burned up. What has become of it? It has sim- 
ply gone back into the air, from whence it came. 
We find left about three per cent., or three pounds 
out of one hundred pounds of dry matter, that will 
not burn up. This we call the ash. This is found 
to be earthy matter. This is all that the soil gave 
directly to the building up of the plant. 

Now, we proceed with analysis and find that this 
ash, or earthy matter, is composed of about four- 
teen elements : iron, soda, sulphur, lime, potash, 
phosphoric acid, magnesia, and others that need not 
be named. The fourteen elements are everywhere 
present in all soils, and always found in the ashes 
of all plants. 

Eleven of them are in such small quantities in 
the ashes and are in such universal distribution in 
sufficient quantities in all soils that we need not 
give further attention to them here. Three of them 
are found in large quantities in the ashes of most of 
our farm crops, and are not always in sufficient 
quantities in all soils. These are found to be abso- 



24 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

lutely necessary for the healthy growth of all our 
crops. Hence, it becomes a matter of great impor- 
tance to the farmer to know about potash, phosphoric 
acid and lime. Without these he can not farm. 
They must be present and in available form, or he 
can grow no crops. 

Now, the question is sure to arise in the inquiring 
mind, " If these are needed in so small a quantity, 
why can we not do without them entirely?" Now, 
the largest and healthiest person has only a small 
quantity of iron in his blood, but if he had none at 
all he must die. You see a great, stout man look- 
ing pale, he feels listless, and has no appetite for 
food. If he eats, he can not digest or appropriate 
his food. He ceases to work ; he is all broken down ; 
he calls in a doctor. The doctor examines him and 
tells him he needs iron in his blood, but he does 
not send him to the blacksmith to swallow a slug of 
iron. He gives him a tincture of iron, with per- 
haps a grain of iron in an ounce of the fluid. He 
takes a few drops of this tincture three times a day. 
His color begins to return ; his appetite improves ; 
his digestion gets all right. Strength, vigor and 
manhood all come at the magic command of this 
little trace of iron in the tincture. 

What the iron did for man, either of these earth 
elements, potash, phosphoric acid and lime, do for 
the plant. We prove this in taking a plant and 
giving it all the needed elements of life and growth 
except potash, and we see it refuse to grow and 
finally sicken and die. The same is true of phos- 



USES OF THE SOIL 25 

phoric acid. The plant may have plenty of potash 
and lime, but without the phosphoric acid it will 
refuse to grow. So it may have plenty of potash 
and phosphoric acid, but if the lime be wanting, 
death results. If these earthy elements do not 
make the plant, the other elements can not make 
the plant without them or any one of them. We 
thus see the important part the soil serves in the 
vegetable kingdom. 

It furnishes a root-bed for holding plants and a 
food-bed for feeding the plant. It furnishes a water- 
bed for sustaining the growth, and a laboratory for 
the preparation of all plant-food. Finally, it fur- 
nishes the health-sustaining foods without which 
plant life would be impossible. 

It is alone through the soil that the farmer is 
able to control, modify, check, or help plant-growth. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What is the subject of this chapter? 2. What is the first 
use of soil? 3. How do sandy and clayey soils compare? 4. 
Which is better for transplanting? 5. Should soil be deep, and 
why? 6. What is the next use of the soil? 7. Does the soil 
prepare the food? 8. What condition helps? 9. Where do 
plants get water? 10. Why should this be abundant? 11. 
How much of plants is water ? 12. How do we get these facts ? 
13. Where does the hard part go when burned? 14. What 
part comes from the earth ? 15. How do we proceed, and what 
do we find? 16. What is true of eleven of these elements? 17. 
What of the other three ? 18. Can we do without them? 19. 
Give illustration. 20. How do we prove their value? 21. Can 
plants grow without either? 22. Sum up soil uses. 



26 AGKIOULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER VII. 




IN the preceding chapter we have pointed 
out some of the most important uses of the 
soil in farming. One of these needs fuller 
treatment. We can not know too much about the 
soil as a workshop for plant-building. 

"The earth that drinketh the rain that falleth oft 
upon it" stores away the rain water. The soil also 
drinks in the heat and light of the sunshine. These, 
together with the atmosphere, mingle and circulate 
and form new and wonderful combinations, make 
and unmake substances. They form acids that 
have very great dissolving power. 

Most of the elements of plant-growth are abun- 
dant in the earth but they are insoluble. Plants 
can not use them as solids. Hence the need of 
these acids. The potash, phosphoric acid, and lime 
must be fed to plants in water. The carbon, which 
is the largest part of the wood of trees and stems of 
plants, must pass from the atmosphere into the 



SOIL AS A WORKSHOP 27 

earth and through the roots into the plant. The 
nitrogen must come from the air also and pass 
through similar changes in the soil. All manures, 
whether animal, chemical, or vegetable, must be de- 
composed in the soil, become soluble and feed the 
plant from the soil through the sap. Indeed, the 
sap is a peculiar and wonderful product of the soil 
workshop. In this workshop many things are dis- 
solved that our most powerful acids do not dissolve. 
Here it is that inorganic matter takes an organic 
form. That which was dead becomes alive. The 
wonders of the vegetable kingdom are born here. 
Here are mixed the preparations that render possi- 
ble all the glorious shades and tints of the flower 
world. Here are kept the secrets that evolve the 
subtle aromas that regale the palace and the peas- 
ant's hut. Here the virulent, deadly poisons and the 
luscious fruits that charm the eye, please the taste, 
and invigorate the stomach are made from the self- 
same material. The orange and the deadly night- 
shade spring up and grow side by side, fed from the 
same lump of soil. 

Wonderful indeed are the mysteries of this great 
workshop. From it we were made and to it we re- 
turn. It is our mother and our final repose. To 
this workshop the farmer commits his seed. From 
it he receives his stores of food and raiment, his com- 
merce and his wealth. These wonderful results are 
not brought about by accident, they are the result 
of definite unchangeable laws. These laws can not 
operate if the soil is badly treated. It must be kept 



28 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

porous and warm, and prevented from washing and 
leaching if we expect its work to be well done. The 
farmer should know his soil and these laws which 
govern its work. 

The value of any soil to the farmer will depend 
largely upon its deepness, its looseness, its fineness, 
and the distribution of water in it. A soil will be 
fertile or poor, not simply on account of the ele- 
ments of plant-food it contains, but on account of 
the condition of that food. The quantity of plant- 
food may be abundant, and because it is insoluble, 
the soil will be poor. Indeed, we find that plant- 
food is abundant in all soils, but it is not soluble in 
many places and these are poor. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. How do we consider soil? 2. Why? 3. What material 
does it gather? 4. Why do they need working over? 5. Is 
this true of earthy and atmospheric food? 6. Is it true of all 
food? 7. What carries all these where they are needed? 8. 
What wonders take place in this shop? 9. What separates 
poison and food? 10. What is our relation to this work? 11. 
What does soil do for seed? 12. Are these results accidental? 
13. Can we help the soil? 14. What controls value of soil? 
15. What must be the condition of plant-food? 



PRESERVATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF SOIL 29 



CHAPTER VIII. 




E find part of the land in original or second 
growth. The first has never been culti- 
vated. The second has been cultivated 
until more or less exhausted. "Worn out" is a 
common expression used to describe it. Then it 
has been left uncultivated until another growth of 
trees have come upon it. Another part of the farm- 
ing lands are "worn out," badly washed, and almost 
useless for farming purposes. "We have land all 
the way between these, good, bad and indifferent 
soils. 

How shall we manage each of these varieties so 
as to get the largest yields for the least expense of 
labor and money ? 

First, we will take the forest land. To use this 
for growing crops of such sort as we cultivate, we 
must first remove the crop of trees. The usual way 
is to cut them down with axes, leaving the stumps 



30 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

to rot at their leisure. This is not the best way. 
Stumps are in the way of good farming, and take 
up much room, sometimes nearly one-third of the 
space. The best improved implements can not be 
used in stumpy fields. So it is quite important to 
remove the stumps, but it is quite expensive to 
do so. It is much easier to dig up or blow up a 
tree than a stump after the tree is cut. The heavy 
top helps to pull out the root. So we advise tak- 
ing the tree out root and branch. The cheapest 
way to do this is by the use of dynamite cartridges. 
One side of most trees has a missing root. Into 
this vacancy drive a crowbar, made for this work 
two or three feet deep under the tree, and into this 
hole place dynamite, and the tree is easily and 
cheaply blown up. There is no danger in the use 
of this method. 

The whole body of most trees can be used so as 
to pay for the clearing of the land, and leave a 
good profit. Very many forest trees make lumber 
that is salable, and the parts unfit for sawing make 
good wood. 

Economy should begin here and continue through 
all farm work. Nothing should ever be burned on 
a farm that will rot. Anything that will burn 
will rot. Therefore, nothing should be burned 
on a farm. This syllogism does not overstate 
the facts. Matter that has once been a vege- 
table will help to make a plant grow again. Hot- 
ting vegetable matter is too valuable to lose. We 
should not burn ofi" the new ground then, as is 



PRESERVATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF SOIL 31 

the custom. Let the twigs and leaves rot. This 
may require one or two years delay, but the money 
gained is worth more than the time lost. Take five 
years from the time you begin to clear, and the land 
where the time is given for the waste all to rot 
and be plowed in will yield more than if the usual 
burning off and immediate planting plan had been 
followed. This will be true if we should lose two 
years and make only three crops with the trash all 
rotted in, against five crops on the burned-off land. 

Fire is a great enemy to the farm, and has done 
almost as much damage as washing. Millions of 
good timber has been destroyed by fire. On many 
farms the timber was worth much more than the 
land cost. If this method of clearing is not 
adopted, and the stumps are left, they should not 
be permitted to stay many years. They occupy too 
much room and prevent the use of good tools. This 
is not all the damage. Every stump is like a little 
housetop, starting the water to wash the land. 
When they are taken out, they leave a deep loose 
place which helps greatly to hold all the rain-water, 
and thus prevent washing. These stumps make 
excellent fire-wood, worth the cost of taking them 
up. Good terracing or level plowing can not be 
well done in stumpy fields. If the land be rolling 
or hilly, this is very important, but of this we will 
speak more fully in considering the worn-out land. 

How did the soil become worn out ? In very few 
cases can soil be exhausted by growing the plant, 
food out of it. On the other hand, it is most always 



'62 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

true that the larger crops you make land yield 
this season, the larger still it will yield next year. 
Soil is generally ruined by washing. The soil, 
which contained the soluble plant-food, has been 
carried away by the rains. If this be true, then the 
first thing to do to begin restoring such lands to fer- 
tility is clearly shown to be, stop the washing. This 
can be done by plowing deep and on a level. We 
sometimes think it this way : — 

" Plow deep and on a level, 
And in peace and plenty revel." 

Go deep enough to break the hard-pan. Then by 
going on a level across the path of the water that is 
trying to make a gully, you will soon be able to stop 
all washing where it had begun, and to keep it from 
beginning in other fields. This can be successfully 
done in all rains except watersj)Outs or cloudbursts. 

The hard-pan is generally the first cause of wash- 
ing. If the soil is porous, the water will sink rap- 
idly and not be apt to wash. Each square yard of 
soil will hold the water that falls upon that square 
yard, if no other gets upon it. The theory of level 
plowing is to keep all water where it falls, and thus 
prevent any gathering from any other places. To 
do this, we take a spirit level and run some guide 
rows to plow by. It is generally found sufficient to 
have these guide rows about every three feet of per- 
pendicular fall in the fields. They should be run 
exactly level. No fall should be given anywhere. 
The idea is to keep the water where it falls. Never 
let it collect at all. 



PRESERVATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF SOIL 33 

We do not need broad high banks called levels, 
nor do we need to terrace the laud from one level to 
another. All that is needed is to plow by the guide- 
rows, and to keep the guide-rows to plow by. This 
saves the trouble of running them again. These 
broad high banks of earth we see in so many fields 
are not only useless but harmful. We lose that 
much land. They furnish beds for the growth of 
all sorts of noxious weeds and brambles, which fill 
the fields with millions of seed to be killed the next 
year. If from any cause the water should ever col- 
lect against them to any considerable depth they 
are apt to break and cause damage. The theory is 
to prevent water from collecting, not to hold it after 
it has collected. 

After all, the deep plowing is the most important 
thing. The leveling is only designed to help the 
deep plowing hold the water. Many seem to think 
that the leveling is the principal thing and the 
deep plowing of less importance. Here is the foun- 
dation of good farming. First, make a deep soil. 
Second, keep a deep soil. 

This is not all of good farming, but there can be 
no good farming for any long time without this. 
Perhaps we shall say a great deal more about keep- 
ing a good soil later on, when we can understand 
more about the higher secrets of fertile soils. 

One word here, which is important enough to re- 
peat over and over. Never stir your soil when it is 
ivet. If you do, when it dries you will have sun- 
dried brickbats instead of productive soil. These 



34 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

clods are worse than useless to plants even though 
they be as small as number seven birdshot. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What is the subject of this chapter? 2. How do we find 
most land? 3. How the other part? 4. What must we do 
with the forest? 5. How is this usually done? 6. Is this best? 
7. Why not? 8. Shall we take up trees or stumps? 9. How 
can we do this cheaply? 10. Is dynamiting dangerous or ex- 
pensive? 11. Why should we not burn vegetation? 12. Does 
this apply to new clearings? 13. Will this cause loss? 14. 
What will be the result in five years? 15. Has fire been a 
friend to the farmer? 16. Shall stumps remain? 17. What 
harm do they cause ? 18. How does moving them help? 19. 
How do soils get poor? 20. What is the first step to improve- 
ment? 21. How can we stop washing? 22. Can we make soi] 
hold all the water? 23. Where does washing begin? 24. What 
is true of each square yard ? 25. What is the object of level 
plowing? 26. How is it done? 27. Do we need high levels? 
28. Why not ? 29. What is most important ? 30. Do we need 
deep soil? 31. Should we ever plow wet land? 



OTHER POINTS ABOUT SOIL 



35 



CHAPTER IX. 




REMOVING STONES. 

N many fields are to be found numerous 
stones. These very greatly hinder good 
farming. So it is well to know what is the best way 
to use them. "We can not use many of the best farm 
tools in stony ground. The stones very greatly hin- 
der the best use of any tools. In some farms they 
are so numerous as to justify building fences with 
them, but this is not desirable on a great many 
farms. Many ^farmers have piled them in heaps, 
but this is very objectionable. The piles are very 
much in the way and take up much valuable room. 
Besides this, they furnish hiding-places for rats, 
moles, and other pests, and rooting-places for numer- 
ous weeds and vegetables which are troublesome on 
the farm. 

Where there are washes already in the fields, 
many of these may be put in the gullies. But per- 



36 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

haps the most useful and least hurtful way to get 
rid of the stones will be found as follows : 

When you have run your levels or guide rows, 
instead of placing your stones on top of these, as has 
been the custom with many farmers, place them 
under these levels. Take a two-horse plow and 
throw out as deep a ditch as you can, then run a 
subsoil plow in this, and then throw out the earth 
with hand-shovels until your ditch is deep enough 
to put the stones in, and have them below where 
the plows will ever reach them. Then place the 
stones in these ditches and cover them. This plan 
has many advantages. You get the rocks moved 
with less labor and cost than by any other method. 
You have an underdrain which is of great value. 
You get rid of the weed and brier beds which they 
make if placed on top. You can cultivate right 
over them. They prevent the land from washing 
more surely than if piled on top. 

This is the cheapest as well as the best way to 
remove stones from the fields. It costs less to get 
rid of a stone in this way than it does to work it for 
one season. 

DRAINAGE. 

Some soils are too wet because of the fact that no 
suitable outlet is provided for the surplus water that 
falls during winter. There is not enough water to 
prevent cultivation, but there is too much for the 
health of the plant roots. The subsoil is too close 
to let the water sink out of the way, or the land lies 
so t hat there is a sort of basin formed. Such fields 



OTHER POINTS ABOUT SOIL 37 

need to be underd rained. This is done by carefully 
surveying the land, and placing terra-cotta pipes 
burned for this purpose about three feet below the 
surface, so arranged that all the lines empty into 
some outlet low enough to carry the surplus water 
away. These lines of pipe should be from thirty 
to fifty feet apart. The soil will rapidly become 
dry enough for culture, and the locked-up stores of 
plant-food will be available, and fields which were 
the least productive will become the most produc- 
tive of all the farm. This wonderful change will 
be caused by letting the sunshine warm up the soil, 
and the air and water circulate freely where the 
standing water was before. The roots and plants 
will follow this circulation and find food and life, 
where there was poison and death before. The 
change is often like magic. It is marvelous in our 
eyes. Very much more of our land needs this 
treatment than we have been thinking. It is 
thought by many that it would pay to underdrain 
all of our fields, but we are inclined to think that 
deep plowing will answer in many places. But this 
deep plowing must be done often and thoroughly, 
and followed by repeated harro wings. 

All the vegetable matter possible should be 
plowed in. 

GREEN MANURING. 

Green manuring, as a help to restoring worn-out 
lands, and as a means of preserving a high state of 
fertility in good lands, is worthy of some mention. 
The use of crops which gather and store nitrogen is 



38 AGRIOULTUKE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

very important. Clover is the best of these. Com- 
mon field-peas are almost as good, and for most 
farmers more convenient. This subject will come 
more properly under the head of manuring land. 

Experience seems to show that it is the growing 
of these crops and the decaying of their roots that 
does the best work. Turning under green crops 
has not been found to pay as it was thought it 
would. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. Of what does this chapter treat? 2, Why should we re- 
move stones? 3. How shall we use them? 4. Why not 
heap them ? 5. What way is suggested to use them ? 6. Ex- 
plain how. 7. What are the advantages? 8. Is it cheaper to 
work a stone or move it? 9. Why should we drain some 
soils? 10. How is this best done? 11. What are the advan- 
tages of underdrains ? 12. What causes the improvement? 13. 
wiiat effect upon plant roots ? 14. What may sometimea do 
as well? 15. What is the object of green manuring? 16. 
What plants suit for this purpose? 17. What does the real 
good? 



PLANTS; HOW THEY GROW 



39 



CHAPTER X. 




S the soil is the farmer's capital, so plants 
and animals are his stock in trade. We 
will now give attention to plants. We do 
not propose to discuss the entire vegetable kingdom, 
but such plants as the farmer finds it profitable to 
plant and cultivate, and some that he must destroy. 
The arrangements of nature are so made that the 
soil is adapted to the growth of vegetation, and 
vegetables are so made that it suits them to grow in 
the soil. The soil contains just the right sort of 
food for plant-growth, and plants need just what the 
soil has to give. They are in a very important 
sense the counterparts of each other. The soil pro- 
duces the plants, and the plants die and rot and feed 
the soil. 

THE GERMINATION OP SEEDS. 

Seeds have an outer shell or covering to protect 
them from the weather. This is generally hard or 
tough. Next is a lot of food stored up to feed the 



40 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

young plant until the roots can grow. Lastly, inside 
and well protected is the little embryo or germ of 
future life. This is the real seed. 

We take any seed, as for instance the common 
garden bean, and place it in suitable soil in the 
spring of the year. Soon the sunshine warms the 
water in the soil, and it soaks through the tough 
skin of the bean and wets the starchy substance in- 
side and changes it to sugar. This vegetable sub- 
stance — sugar — enters the little germ, wakes it up 
and starts it to growing. The stem end starts up- 
ward to seek the light. The root end starts down- 
ward to seek darkness, water and food. These never 
make a mistake and start the wrong way. They 
know what is right and they do it. Here we see 
signs of intelligence in the plant kingdom. The 
two lobes of the seed are brought up through the 
earth and make more or less perfect leaves, while 
they give their store of food to the stem which 
pushes them up. The little feathery bud between 
them called the plumule then grows on to form 
more leaves and stems and branches and blooms, 
and seeds like those they grew from. But how was 
all this done? Le't us see. 

HOW PLANTS GROW. 

When the stem started upward, the root started 
downward. This immediately began to branch and 
form other roots. Each of these took different di- 
rections. Soon the little plant was strongly planted 
in the ground. Each of these carries a little soft 
point called a spongiole on the tip, and through 



PLANTS: HOW THEY GROW 41 

this constantly absorbs or drinks in the water from 
the earth. Soon thousands of small roots, like hair, 
fill all the soil and together they take a great quan- 
tity of water. This water we call sap. It runs up 
and down through the cell pores of the plant. This 
water carries with it the food offered by the soil. 
These minute spongioles do not take in anything 
solid. They only take in that which is dissolved in 
the water. This water goes rapidly up through the 
stems to the leaves. Here it meets the chlorophyl, 
a green substance formed by the action of the sun- 
shine, which has the power of working it over, select- 
ing such as the plant needs, and throwing off into the 
air that which it does not need. This waste is 
thrown off through thousands of little mouths, gen- 
erally on the under side of the leaves. The part 
suited to the growth of the plant is returned, after 
being worked over in the leaves, and flowing down 
through the branches and stems leaves the right 
food just where it is needed to build up the differ- 
ent parts of the plant. What is needed for bark is 
left to make bark, what is needed for wood is left to 
make wood, that needed for the flowers is sent to 
the flower bud, that needed for the seed is sent to 
make seed. No mistakes are made in this wonder- 
ful workshop. The scarlet needed for the crimson 
hue of the rose bloom is not sent to the leaves. The 
delightful odors needed to give fragrance to the 
orange-blossom is never sent into the roots. This 
master workman is a handmaid of the Eternal. 
The earthy matter, potash, phosphoric acid, lime, 



42 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

sulphur, and such like, must be in the water of the 
soil, dissolved, so that it becomes part of the soil. 
The carbon, nitrogen, ammonia, and other atmos- 
pheric food must go through the same channel. 
First dissolved in the earth or soil water, they enter 
the roots and are carried up by the sap circulation 
in the leaves. Then they are worked over, assorted, 
recombined, and sent to the rough bark or to make 
the subtle aroma of the gaudy-colored flower. Es- 
sentially the same processes are gone through with 
in building the tiniest violet and the brawny oak. 

The sample we selected as a type belongs to the 
class of plants called exogens or outside growers, be- 
cause they build themselves by constantly putting 
on new growth on the outside between the bark and 
the wood. 

The other class called endogens, or inside grow- 
ers, build themselves entirely from within by con- 
tinuous enlargement of the embryo. 

The first class can continue to grow indefinitely. 
The second can only develop what is found in the 
germ. To this class belongs corn, wheat, oats, and 
all the grains and grasses. To the other class be- 
lona: cotton, beans, peas, many garden vegetables, 
and nearly all the fruit and forest trees. 

From what we have already said, it is clear that 
the soil must first of all contain the elements of 
plant-food in sufficient quantity. Secondly, these 
elements must be in a soluble condition, or the plant 
can not use them. The difference between a rich 
and a poor soil is not in the quantity of the plant- 



PLANTS: HOW THEY GROW 43 

food, but in the solubility of the different elements. 
Analysis shows that about the same quantity of 
earth elements is present in all sorts of soil. Take 
a cubic foot of soil from the poorest-looking washed 
hillside, and another from the richest-looking bot- 
tom land, and they will'show about the same analy- 
sis. Again, take a cubic foot of soil anywhere, and 
then take a cubic foot just below, and they will an- 
alyze about the same. The lower foot will show 
generally a little more plant-food than the upper. 
What then do we learn from these unexpected re- 
sults? We learn first that the productive power of 
the soil is not in proportion to the amount of plant- 
food contained in it, but in proportion to the 
amount that is capable of being dissolved in water. 
The bottom land makes larger crops, not because it 
is richer in the elements of plant-food, but because 
these elements are more soluble than in the soil of 
the hillsides. Again, the top soil will produce more 
rapidly than the subsoil, because the plant-food in 
it is more soluble, not because there is more of it. 

A little study will show us that the principal dif- 
ference between these soils is in the mechanical con- 
dition. The clay taken from the worn hillside is 
hard; and the circulation of air, sunshine and water 
is hindered by this hardness. The bottom land is 
fine and loose, having been brought largely from 
the hills, floating in the water. Hence aeration can 
go on rapidly in such soils. The air, sunshine and 
water, and the combinations formed by these, circu- 
late freely through such soils and dissolve the pot- 



44 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMOTE SCHOOLS 

ash, phosphoric acid, lime and other elements in 
such quantities as to produce very rapid growth in 
plants. This work is called "aeration," and the re- 
sulting solubility is called "turning loose" the 
locked up stores of plant-food. 

What we have said about the hills and bottoms 
is also true of the soil and subsoil. In the part 
loosened up by the plows and the harrows and filled 
more or less with rotting vegetable matter, much of 
the plant-food is readily aerated and turned loose. 
In the compact subsoil, or hard-pan, the work of 
aeration has been prevented. The plant-food exists 
there abundantly, but is not solubb and is not ready 
to help plants grow. Here we have one of the 
greatest lessons that science has ever taught the 
farmer. We see at once that if these things are 
true, then the farmer has the key to success in his 
own hands. If he will pulverize the hillsides as 
finely and as deeply as the bottom land soil, he will 
find them as rich. They will grow just as good 
crops. It is hard for the ordinary farmer to believe 
this. Yet this is true. This does not rest on theory 
alone. Practice has proven it true in hundreds of 
places. Any farmer can tr^^ the experiment for 
himself. Now tliis will not be the work of an 
hour or a day; it will take time and labor 
to pulverize the hillsides as fine and as deep as the 
bottom lands, but it can be done by using good 
plows, rollers and harrows, and by the help of frost 
and sunshine. Persevere and you can do it. You 
help to do this very much by using all the decay- 



PLANTS: HOW THEY GROW 46 

ing vegetable matter possible. You can do this. 
Again, it will require some time for nature to do 
her part. Aeration will begin as soon as you begin 
and keep along with you. Insoluble potash and 
lime and phosphoric acid will not all become solu- 
ble in a day. They will do so rapidly enough to 
pay you for all your labor and patience. 

**The husbandman waiteth patiently for the 
early and the latter rain," but his reward is sure. 
Providence is on the side of the industrious person. 
Here we come back to the starting-point. Plants 
grow by being furnished with plenty of soluble 
food. The elements of plants exist in inexhaust- 
ible abundance everywhere in the air, soil and 
water. These can be made soluble and available 
by the farmer. Deep plowings and repeated har- 
rowing will do the work. In this way the farmer 
will be sure to earn his bread in the sweat of his 
brow. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What do we study in Chapter 10? 2. What are plants to 
the farmer? 3. What is the relation of plants and soil? 4. 
How are seeds made up? 5. How do they germinate? 6. 
Where do stems start? 7. Where do roots start? 8. What 
takes place next? 9. Describe root-growth. 10. How do they 
get water? 11. What does the sap carry? 12. What is done 
in the leaves? 13. What is done with the waste? 14. What 
becomes of the plant-food? 15. Is this work well done? 16. 
How do the mineral foods get in ? 17. How do the air foods 
get in? 18. Do the violet and the oak grow alike? 19. What 
areexogens? 20. What areendogens? 21. How do they dif- 
fer? 22. Name several of each class. 23. What must be in the 
soil? 24. What is the difference between rich and poor soil? 
25. Does the quantity of plant-food differ in different soils? 



46 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

26. How is it in soil and subsoil ? 27. What is the first con- 
clusion? 28. Why does bottom land produce more.? 29. Why 
does soil produce more than subsoil ? 30. What makes the dif- 
ference? 31. How does fineness keep the soil? 32. What is 
aeration? 33. What do we call the result? 34 What happens 
in loosened soil? 35. How in hard-pan? 36. What lesson 
have we here for the farmer? What can he do? 37. Can it be 
done at once? 38. What will help? 39. Will patience pay ? 
40. How do plants grow ? 41. Can the farmer help? 



USES AND ABUSES OF WATER ON FARM 47 



CHAPTERS XI. 




E have spoken somewhat of the action of 
y water in the soil and in the plant, but it will 
be well to look into this more closely. About 
four-fifths of the earth's surface is water, or per" 
haps we should say about one-fifth of our watery 
world is dry land, but this one-fifth is not very dry 
land. Water is in it everywhere. The soil is full 
of little pores, and water goes through all these and 
Spreads itself all over the surface of each little par- 
ticle. There is an ocean of earth- water constantly 
ebbing and flowing through the ground. This 
water is carried by capillary attraction through the 
earth in all directions. It goes downward, upward, 
and sideways, clinging to the surface of the porous 
subsoil. When dry hot weather comes and plant- 
growth calls for large quantities of water, capillary 
attraction helps to bring the water up from the deep 
subsoil. All the time it is carrying the water along 



48 AGRICULTURE FOR TUE COMMON SCHOOLS 

through the fine pores every way through the sub- 
soil and the top soil. This earth-ocean moves more 
or less parallel with the surface, but somewhat in 
waves like the sea. 

Dig or bore a hole in the earth and you will soon 
find this water supply in greater or less abundance. 
It is always moving ; never still or stagnant, unless 
made so by some outside force. From this source 
comes all our wells and springs. Not only is this 
water found in what we call the dry land, but it is 
found in large quantities in all growing vegetation. 
Some plants, such as melons, cucumbers and so on, 
are about ninety-eight per cent, water; taking in the 
hardest woods, water is about seventy-five per cent, 
of the vegetable kingdom. 

A very large quantity of water is always present 
in the air in the form of vapor. We could not 
breathe dry air and live. Water enters very largely 
into all animal life. The blood, flesh, and even the 
bones are filled with water. The Bible speaks of 
"The Water of Life," and there is no life in this 
world without the presence and power of water. 
Water gives power to the germ in the seed to begin 
life, and carries all the food to the growing plant. 
Plants not only need enough water to hold their 
food in solution, but a very much larger quantity 
to do the carrying. 

The result of long and careful study shows that 
about three hundred and fifty pounds of water must 
be absorbed into the roots, sent up through the sap 
and thrown off into the air to leave one pound of 



USES AND ABUSES OF WATER ON FARM 49 

solid vegetation behind. Single trees are said to 
throw off 24,000 pounds of water in a single season. 
This enormous quantity of water must be in the 
reach of this tree, but there are also very many 
other trees pushing their roots into the same ground 
and getting their part at the same time. When all 
of these have taken their supply, a great deal of 
water must still be left in the soil to keep it moist 
and furnish future demands. 

We thus see that a great supply of water is needed, 
if we grow large crops. The water necessary to 
make a common average crop of corn would cover 
the earth thirteen inches deep if all of it was present 
at one time. About two thousand pounds of water 
must be carried up through the stalks of cotton to 
make one pound of lint. About the same quantity 
is needed to make one pound of corn. It is very 
plain that the larger the crops we wish to make, the 
more water we must have at hand. In very many 
farms the amount of crops we gather is in direct 
proportion to the quantity of water we supply. This 
is a matter which the farmer can largely control. 
By intelligent work he can greatly increase the 
available water supply. By neglect or ignorance he 
can, and very often does, cut off the supply of 
water. We think the most important point in suc- 
cessful farming is proper management of the water 
on the farm. We will now try to show you how the 
farmer can do this. 

The great law that governs the action of water is 
gravitation. This would cause all the water to go 



50 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

in direct lines toward the center of the earth, but 
various things prevent or modify this law. We 
have already spoken of the law of capillary attrac- 
tion, which carries much of this water sideways and 
thus modifies the law of gravity. It also reverses 
this law entirely by the help of sunshine and the 
pumping power of plant roots and cells. The mys- 
terious power of life in plants and animals, also help 
in reversing and modifying the law of gravitation. 
The looseness or hardness of the soil and subsoil 
have great influence upon the action of both of the 
great laws mentioned above. If the soil is too com- 
pact or tight, the water can not get through. Hard 
soil interferes with the action of both laws. If we 
have a few inches of subsoil on a thick hard-pan, 
the rain-water can not get through. If the rainfall 
be heavy or continuous, the small quantity of loose 
earth soon becomes filled with water and can hold 
no more. So there will be a surplus collecting- 
Now what does this surplus do? The law makes 
the water run in the direction nearest toward the 
center when it can not go down in that direction. 
So the water takes the most convenient way down 
the hillside. In doiiig this, it is sure to carry with 
it first that part of the soil held in solution, and 
next the finest and lightest of that which is not in 
solution. Soon gullies are formed, and the best of 
the land is carried away to the bottom lands or the 
creeks, rivers and oceans. Sometimes where we do 
not see gullies, great damage has been done by car- 
rying away the finest of the soil, and leaving only 



USES AND ABUSES OF WATER ON FARM 51 

the heavy sand or coarse clay. We not only lose 
the water, but the soil also. 

To do the best farming we need all the water that 
falls. All that runs off is that much lost. More 
damage has been done to the soil, and through that 
to the farmers, by washing, than by all other causes* 
in the hilly lands of the South. The washing should 
never have been allowed. It has taken many mil- 
lions of dollars from our fields. We can not afford 
to let it continue. We need all the water we have. 
Can we keep it? We answer we can. We say so, 
because it has already been done on very many 
farms. How can it be done? We will explain. 
Break up the hard-pan. Plow deep enough to con- 
nect with the porous earth, generally found twelve 
to fifteen inches from the top. Keep this loose and 
porous by frequent fall plowing with two to four- 
horse plows. Harrow often and mix all the vege- 
table matter with the soil. Run a complete system 
of levels in the farms to be used as guide rows to 
plow and plant by. Do not depend on the levels 
to hold the water, but on the deep plowing. In this 
way the rain-water can be controlled and made to 
enrich the fields instead of gullying and ruining 
them. In this way many of the abuses of water on 
the farm can be stopped. 

But washing is not the only abuse of water. Plow- 
ing and pasturing land when it is too wet is another 
abuse. This is generally the cause of hard-pan. 
Soil worked too wet and dried by sunshine and rain 
loses its value as a food-bed for plants. Millions 



52 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

of clods of all sizes are made which are worth no 
more to plants than so many sun-dried brickbats. 
The plant food in these clods is made insoluble. 
They can not furnish any help to the growing crops. 

This is not all the damage. They are too hard 
for the tender spongioles to enter. These little hair 
roots are made to go around them. Being thus con- 
stantly hindered in their work they are greatly de- 
layed and damaged. Small and unhealthy plants 
are made, where strong healthy ones should be. The 
damage from this source can not be fully counted 
up. It is like interest; it eats while we sleep. Land 
thus damaged may recover where well treated after 
many years, but when this process is constantly re- 
peated the land is finally worthless for farming 
uses. As clay soils hold water longer, they are apt 
to be more injured than sandy or loamy soils. 

Another abuse of water is found in exactly the 
opposite direction. While water is needed, too 
much water, if still, may be harmful. Sunshine, 
air, and water must be mingled in proper propor- 
tions or aeration can not do its work. Too much 
water will retard of entirely stop this work. So we 
must see that any excess of water is promptly fur- 
nished a way of escape, so as to do no harm in go- 
ing. It is a beautiful thought to know this can be 
done by the same means already mentioned. On 
nearly all our uplands, deep, thorough breaking 
will pass the surplus surface water rapidly off below. 
In valley lands it will sometimes be necessary to 
cut open drains or ditches. In fiat fields we are 



USES AND ABUSES OF WATER ON FARM 53 

able to get the best results by underdrains. These 
should be well plowed and laid with pipes or tile. 
Never work sour land. 

The Uses of Water. 

These are so numerous that we will not be able to 
talk of all of them. 

First, it is the great solvent for all plant food. 
Nothing can do this work except water. It requires 
large quantities of water to dissolve many things. 

Second, water is the only carrier for the plant 
food. All plants take this food and make their 
growth from the water. 

Third, a large part of all plants is water itself. 

No plant can live one minute without it. 

In earth and air and sea, 
The living waters be. 
Plants there daily feed, 
And find supplied every need. 

When there is water there may be life. When 
there is none there must be death. 

Fourth, if the water is held in the farm it greatly 
enriches the soil. Water not only carries the food, 
but is itself an important part of plant life. 

Often a soil seems very poor because it will no 
longer produce good crops. All that is lacking is a 
sufficient quantity of water. This fact has been 
known for thousands of 3'ears. In order to remedy 
this trouble, numerous methods for supplying the 
needed water have been used. As far back as his- 
tory goes men have been practicing irrigation or 
artificial watering. In many parts of this country 



54 AGRICULTUKE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

it is largely used now. Millions of acres of land in 
the great western plateaus and in California are 
utterly worthless without water given in this way. 
But when the water is thus supplied these become 
the most productive soils we have. 

There are three principal methods used for this 
purpose. 

First, we take running streams, and by using 
dams and ditches turn them from their natural bed or 
channel and carry them over the fields to be watered 
by gravity. To do this successfully, often requires 
very large outlays of money and skillful engineer- 
ing. Canals have to be made hundreds of miles 
long and large enough to carry large rivers. Smaller 
and still smaller ditches are carried from these until 
finally the water is turned in small streams upon 
the fields. This method is quite largely used in 
growing the fine fruits and grapes in California. 
This can be used anywhere where the country is 
broken and the streams have a good fall. Even 
where we have rain this adds very much to the 
yield. 

A second method is to use windmills and steam- 
pumps and raise the water from wells, lakes or 
rivers, and then distribute much as above described. 
The chief difference is in the method of obtaining 
the water. This method is chiefly used where there 
are no streams with fall, or on the plains where 
there are no streams at all. The water thus used is 
frequently measured out to the customers at a cer- 
tain price. By these tolls the expenses of the sys- 



USES AND ABUSES OF WATER ON FARM 55 

tern are paid. Private waterworks may be often 
used to greatly increase the yield of vegetables in 
our domestic gardens. 

The third method of irrigation, if we may be par- 
doned for a somewhat new use of this term, is to ir- 
rigate from below, instead of from above. By this 
we mean that we may plow the soil so deeply and 
pulverize it so finely that capillary attraction will 
bring up the water when it is needed, provided we 
have taken care of the fall of water in winter when 
we did not need it. The heat of the summer sun 
and the pumping power of the plant root will 
greatly assist in bringing up the water. If the land 
has been properly plowed the plant roots will grow 
very deep in the soil — from three to seven feet — 
and as each of these is a skilfully made pump, all 
of them acting at once will be able to bring up great 
quantities of earth-water. A great advantage in 
this method of irrigation, is that besides helping to 
secure all the water needed, it will help in very 
many other things. This will prevent all washing 
and leaching and will make the soil deeper and 
richer from year to year. All the time it will be 
yielding larger and larger crops. Keep in connec- 
tion with the earth-water below, and this water will 
by crawling up along the sides of the little pores, 
supply the growing plant with the life-giving 
water in hot summer. Short drouths will not injure 
the crops. Thus when the poorly farmed land 
yields short crops, this properly worked land will 
give large crops when the prices are best. The 



56 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

farmer who properly manages the water upon his 
land will be almost sure to be a prosperous man. 
He turns, what has often been the greatest curse 
upon the farm, into what Divine Providence in- 
tended it should be, the greatest blessing. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. "What is the subject of this chapter? 2. How do water 
and land compare? 3. Is water found in the earth? 4. How 
does it move? 5. How does heat affect it? 6. Describe its 
motions fully. 7. How do we prove this? 8. Is water in 
plants? 9. How much of them is water? 10. Is water in the 
air? 11. Is it in animals? 12. Is there any life without it? 
13. How much water do plants use? 14. How much do trees 
evaporate? 15. Do they use it all? 16. How much is needed 
to make a crop? 17. How much to make a pound of lint or 
corn? 18. How can we increase the crop? 19. Can the farmer 
regulate this? 20. What is the most important point? 21. 
What laws govern water motion? 22. What law changes this? 
23. What helps? 24. What else? 25. What condition of soil 
is best? 26. How does hard-pan act? 27. How does water 
start gullies? 28. Is there damage without these? 29. Do we 
need all the water? 30. What has done most harm? 31. Can 
this be stopped? 32. How? 33. How shall we plow? 34. 
What will result? 35. How can plowing hurt? 36. What does 
wet plowing do? 37. Does this prevent proper roots? 38. 
Is harm done? 39. Can this be remedied? 40. What soils 
suffer most? 41. Does water ever do harm? 42. How? 43. 
What is the remedy? 44. How should flat fields be helped? 
45. What is first use of water? 46. What is second use? 47. 
Third? 48. Fourth? 49. What often causes poor soils? 50. 
How can this be remedied? 51. What is the first method of 
irrigation? 52. Is it costly? 53. Does it pay? 54. What is 
the second method? 55. Where is this used? 56 What is the 
third method? 57. What will help to raise the water? 58. 
What is a great advantage? 59. Whence and how does the 
water come? 60. What is the result to the farmer? 



PLANTS AND THE ATMOSPHERE 



57 



CHAPTER XII. 



PLANTS 

[T 




LANTS take root in the soil, but grow mostly 
in the air. They also grow mostly from 
the air. About ninety-seven per cent, of a 
dry plant will burn in the fire. All of this comes 
from the air, hence it goes back into the air. Plants 
can not create anything. They simply have power 
to rearrange things and thus form new compounds. 
They gather from the air carbon, oxygen, hydrogen 
and nitrogen. These and their compounds make 
all the woody parts of plants called fiber. All their 
starch, sugar, jelly, oils and gluten are made from 
the air. We do not fully understand how this is 
done. Some of these elements, such as carbon, 
dioxide and hydrogen, were formerly thought to be 
absorbed or taken into the plant through the leaves. 
The nitrogen, oxygen and ammonia are thought to 
enter the plant through the roots, but some plants 
seem to have the power of getting their ammonia 
through their leaves. It is now thought that even 
the air must furnish its food to plants through the 



58 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

roots. Little microbes in the nodules or warts upon 
the roots of clover, beans and such like plants, help 
to do this work. But whether the plants get them 
through the leaves or roots, it still remains true that 
by far the larger and nearly all the valuable parts 
of plants come from the air, and not from the soil. 
This fact is very important, because these elements 
are in inexhaustible quantities in the air, besides all 
burning and decaying is constantly throwing them 
back into the air. All breathing animals constantly 
discharge carbonic acid gas, the most important of 
these. The winds keep the air pure and ever chang- 
ing, so that no part of it can lose its share of any 
one of these gases. We must not, then, fear that 
the supply of plant food will ever be lacking in the 
air. We need only to look after the soil. Provi- 
dence will look after the air. So that while time 
shall last, "seed-time and harvest shall remain." 

But while we can not mix or unmix the air ele- 
ments of food, there is much we can do to assist 
plants in getting their full share of help from the 
air. While the roots grow underground, they must 
have air, and the elements of plant-food in the earth 
can not be prepared for plant use without free cir- 
culation of the air through the porous soil. By 
keeping the soil loose we greatly aid both of these. 
If we permit the soil to bake, it very much hinders 
the circulation. So that whether we look to the 
soil food, or the water food, or the air food, we find 
that the mechanical condition of the soil has much 
to do with success. To look after this is the mission 



PLANTS AND THE ATMOSPHERE 59 

of the farmer. Although our knowledge of the 
winds is very limited, yet they are of much impor- 
tance. Upon their bosom ride the clouds, and be- 
fore the Storm King the strongest trees often bow. 

" He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and 
he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap." Strong 
winds and cold currents often injure tender vegeta- 
tion, and we should select places of planting, many 
of them, with reference to preventing all the dam- 
age we can. In many places crops may be very 
much protected by leaving a body of woodland on 
the north and northwest sides. In open countries, 
it will often be found profitable to set out trees for 
this purpose. Plants can not live without water, 
neither can they live without air The leaves act 
much as lungs for plants, but air is found present 
in every part of the plant. As water conveys food 
to the growing plant, so to a large extent the heat 
is carried to the plant by the air. Heat is needed 
at every step in plant life. Germs can not sprout 
without heat. Chemical changes can not proceed 
without it. Growth is dependent upon it. 

Very many seeds are entirely dormant in soil be- 
low forty-eight degrees. Above that, they begin to 
show signs of life. Above sixty-two to sixty-five 
degrees, life becomes very active. Growth is more 
and more vigorous as the temperature rises. Hence, 
we see the amazing growth of all sorts of plants in 
the tropical regions. The sun is the original source 
of this heat. The air is the medium which receives, 
holds, and distributes it to the roots and sap of 
plants. 



80 AGRICULTUEE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What is the subject? 2. How much do plants get from 
air ? 3. What substances do they gather ? 4, What do these 
make? 5. How is this done? 6. What helps to do this work? 
7. Is it well to know these facts? 8. Do animals help? 9. 
What can we do to help? 10. Does the mechanical condition 
help? 11. Have winds any effect? 12. Does air help? 13. 
Does heat? 



MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 61 



CHAPTER XIII. 

^r\ures 

Mlteers 




ANURES are anything which has once been 
a part of plants or animals, or both, but is 
now decayed or decaying. Rotting vegetables or 
animal matter of any kind, is more or less a ma- 
nure. The word is generally used to mean the refuse 
from domestic animals. Hence, we speak of horse 
manure, cow manure, sheep manure, hog manure, 
and so on. The general name of all these is lot or 
stable manure, sometimes called barnyard manure. 
When these substances decay, they become soluble 
in water, and furnish plant-food. Thus they cause 
plants to grow very rapidly. Having once been 
plants, they are apt to furnish all the kinds of food 
needed, and about the right quantity of each. The 
voidings from animals are rich in the elements 
needed for plant-building. This is particularly true 
of the liquid. Hence, by using some vegetable 
waste, such as leaves or straw, or even sawdust, to 
absorb the urine, we greatly increase the quantity 



62 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS. 

of stable manure. We also improve the quality. 
The liquids are already dissolved. The solids must 
become so before we are helped by them. Farmers 
who fail to use the liquid manure from their cattle 
lose the best half. The solid or liquid voidings 
may be kept together or separate, but neither should 
ever be lost. If both are preserved together, we 
have a perfect or complete manure suited to almost 
every plant, and to every kind of soil. We have 
already shown that a very small amount of a needed 
element will exert a great influence in the growth 
of any plant. Small quantities of soluble manure 
may thus increase the crop. Sometimes we get two 
or three times the yield by adding a small quantity 
of manure. 

The soil of any field or farm may be so injured by 
previous bad work or bad cropping that it has no 
available food of some kinds. There may be plenti- 
ful supplies of mineral elements, but a lack of am- 
monia, and the crops will be poor. Supply this lack 
and the crops will be bountiful. A field of wheat 
containing fifty acres, lacking this ammonia, might 
only be able to yield a crop of ten or twelve bushels 
per acre. Use some stable manure, costing about 
three dollars per acre, and the yield is often run up 
to twenty or thirty bushels per acre. We thus have 
a profit of ten to twenty dollars per acre, or five 
hundred to a thousand dollars on fifty acres, from 
the use of one hundred and fifty dollars. 

This wonderful change was brought about in part 
by supplying the lacking element of plant-food, but 



MANUKES AND FEETILIZEES 63 

this was not all that was done. There were in the 
decaying manure microbes, which caused a process 
of fermentation to begin in the soil. This created 
acids and gases, which helped to decompose the ele- 
ments of plant-food already abundant in the soil. 
But they were not soluble before, and could not be 
used by the plant. Now they are made soluble, and 
the power of the soil to produce crops is greatly in- 
creased. This fermentation changes the soil much as 
yeast changes the dough. Thus we get from the use 
of stable manure, benefits far beyond the cost of the 
plant food in them. To get the full benefit from 
them, they should never be allowed to get wet, or 
be leached by rains before they are put in the fields. 
The most soluble part is always the most valuable 
part. As soon as they get wet this part is dissolved 
into the water. If the water is permitted to run 
through, it carries this away with it. Millions of 
dollars of the very best plant-food is lost in this 
way every year. It either soaks into the earth or 
evaporates into the air. In either case the farmer 
loses it. 

There would be just as much business sense in a 
farmer taking five and ten dollar bills and burning 
them up, as there is in his permitting his manure to 
be ruined in this way. 

Manures of all kinds should be kept under shel- 
ter, and only given enough water to assist in the 
rotting. If properly handled, the urine will gener- 
ally supply this. When taken from the sheds or 
barn, the manure should be spread broadcast upon 



64 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

freshly plowed ground, and harrowed in. If this 
can not be done at once, then as soon as can be- 
Plow the ground so as to get the manure mixed 
with the soil as soon as practicable. More or less 
loss is going on until this is done. The advantages 
of spreading the manure are many and important. 
We have spoken of the fermentation and its good 
efifects upon the soil in turning loose locked-up 
stores of plant-food. We can see at once that this 
can be better done if the manure is mixed with all 
the soil than if it be confined to narrow streaks and 
spots. Again, plant-roots go everywhere through 
the soil seeking food. If the supply of food is uni- 
form, the crop will be so and the plants will be 
healthier. If the manure be only in the row or 
hill, then only those roots which are there can get 
any good from it. So we lose very much by using 
manure in drills or hills. 

Another great gain in keeping manure dry, is in 
the handling and hauling. One ton of manure 
will easily absorb several tons of water. Many 
farmers pay more in labor and in money for hand- 
ling and hauling the water than the manure. 

The quantity and quality of the manure depends 
somewhat upon the feed. Cattle take away very 
little from the available plant-food in the vegetable 
matter fed to them. They consume mostly the ele- 
ments, which come from the air. They add to the 
manure, elements from their blood, flesh and bones, 
which increase the value. Hay and grain foods, 
such as cottonseed meal, wheat bran and oil cake, 



MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 65 

support the cow with part of their contents. A 
large part of these, and all other food substance, 
pass on to the manure-heap, rich m all the elements 
of plant-food. This has been rendered more solu- 
ble by the process of digestion. A ton of cotton- 
seed meal will give flesh to the cow and increase 
the flow of milk, improve the yield of butter, and 
furnish nearly as much for plant-food after being 
fed to the cow as before. The cow has taken some, 
and added some from the waste of her own system. 

It is hardly possible to keep up a high standard 
of fertility upon our farms without the aid of cattle. 
The cow seems to be the cheapest guano factory the 
farmer can patronize. She gathers up from the 
highways and the byways, pastures and hedges and 
odd corners much that would be lost. Growing cat- 
tle has been a leading feature of farming in all 
ages and countries. We might sum it up this way : 
Grow grass to feed cattle, to make manure, to make 
the land rich so that we can grow more grass to feed 
more cattle to make more manure, to make the 
land richer, to make more grass, and so on forever. 

Barnyard manure is suited to all crops, but is not 
the only good manure. All decaying vegetable 
matter makes the soil richer. Stubble and trash of 
all kinds should be plowed in. They keep the soil 
porous and warm, as well as add some plant-food. 
Some plants take nitrogen from the air and leave it 
in the soil. Clovers and leguminous, or pod-bearing 
plants, generally have this power. Cow-peas are 
very valuable for this purpose. Very poor soils 



68 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

have been made rich by sowing a pea crop after a 
grain crop for a few years. The vines are good for 
manure, and help to enrich the soil if left to die 
and decay on the field, but the most good is done 
by the roots. The vines are so much more valu- 
able for hay that it is not good farming to let them 
rot. They are worth about fifteen dollars per ton 
as hay, and about four dollars and fifty cents for 
manure. It is poor economy to lose this difference, 
about ten dollars per ton. But we need lose noth- 
ing at all. Save the vines and feed them, and thus 
get the hay value in full and get the manure value 
all the same. The droppings from cattle fed with 
pea-vine hay is very rich. 

Not only are vegetables valuable for manure, but 
decayed animal matter is often very rich. Even 
the bones and hoofs and horns of animals are very 
valuable for manuring purposes. The}'^ form the 
basis of many of the best guanos. Rotting fish are 
largely used for the same purpose. Manures and 
fertilizers are often spoken of as though they were 
the same. Strictly speaking, they are different in 
some important respects. Manures are the result of 
natural decays. Fertilizers are chemical compounds. 
The plant-food they contain is made soluble by 
^rong acids. Animal bones are ground fine and 
the acid is added to the flour. By the action of the 
acid, more or less of the phosphoric acid, potash, 
lime and mineral elements are made soluble in 
water. These compounds are called acid phos- 
phates, superphosphates, and so on, according to 



MA.NUKES AND FERTILIZERS 67 

the quantity of the different elements. If sulphuric 
acid is used, they are called sulphates. If nitric 
acid is used, they are called nitrates. If carbonic 
acid is used, then they are called carbonates, and so 
on through the list. 

If the substance used with the acid is potash, 
then we have the nitrate or sulphate or muriate of 
potash. 

If soda was the base, then we have nitrate of 
soda. If lime, we have sulphate or carbonate of 
lime. These chemical compounds are carefully 
analyzed, and the exact proportions of the different 
elements known. This soluble percentage of each 
plant -food must be plainly marked on the sack or 
barrel, and guaranteed by the parties selling. This 
is for the protection of the farmer. By looking, he 
can see what he is purchasing. They are generally 
sold by the ton of two thousand pounds. Thus, 
eight per cent, phosphate means that in a ton there 
is one hundred and sixty pounds of soluble phos- 
phate ; two per cent, potash means that in a ton 
you will get forty pounds of potash. In a ton of 
phosphate we get about these quantities of plant- 
food — two hundred to two hundred and forty 
pounds. Now, if we distributed these, as is the 
custom, at about the rate of one hundred and fifty 
to two hundred pounds to the acre, we are putting 
on each acre about ten or fifteen pounds of phos- 
phate, and two and one-half to four pounds of pot- 
ash per acre. 

We expect these small quantities to cause a great 



68 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

increase in yield. Often they do. We often put 
four to six thousand stalks of corn per acre, and 
ten to fifteen thousand stalks of cotton. If the roots 
find all we put per acre, how much potash would 
one stalk get ? Two thousand corn-stalks will divide 
each pound among them. Four thousand cotton- 
stalks must feed on each pound. 

Experience shows that besides potash, phosphoric 
acid and lime, we need nitrogen for very many 
crops. This is added to the phosphate by the use 
of nitrate of soda, Peruvian guano, decayed fish, 
dried blood, cottonseed meal, and many other sub- 
stances. Plants seem to require that the nitrogen 
be given to them in the form of ammonia. We find 
this generally guaranteed on the sacks in about the 
same quantities as the potash, one and one-half to 
two and one-half, sometimes three per cent. This 
little change gives a new name to the compounds, 
and they are called complete fertilizers, or ammoni- 
ated guanos. It adds considerably to the cost per 
ton. It is very readily dissolved by water, and con- 
stantly tends to evaporate in the air, particularly if 
exposed to hot sunshine. 

Guanos differ from the others from the fact that 
they are natural products of the earth, produced 
from the deposits of millions of birds, or rotting 
fish-bones, or both combined. They are generally 
found in tropical regions. They are very rich in 
nitrogen. This element determines their compara- 
tive value. Peru furnishes us with most of the 
highest grades. The name, however, is often ap- 



MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 69 

plied to manufactured goods containing ammonia. 
Strictly speaking, they belong to the manures, for 
manures are made by natural processes. Fertilizers 
by chemical processes. 

To the farmer, this distinction means a great deal. 
What is made by chemical processes he can not 
make. These he must buy. What is made from 
natural processes, he can make for himself. These 
he need not buy. If you understand your business, 
you can make your own. You need not buy. Cot- 
tonseed meal is the chief source of ammonia for 
farms. 

But there is another very important difference 
between manures and fertilizers. Manures make the 
soil richer at the same time that they make the crop 
larger. They do this by constantly adding to the 
soil much vegetable matter which, though not im- 
mediately soluble, will soon become so by the 
agencies already at work in the soil, and by the fer- 
mentation which they cause to set up in the soil. 
Thus, by nature's own methods the work of enrich- 
ing the soil goes right on, while the soil is making 
the owner richer year by year. 

This is not the case with chemical fertilizers. 
They are prepared by a definite formula, and pre- 
pared to do a fixed amount of work and no more. 
They carry to the plant a small quantity of dis- 
solved food. This is all they can do. We have 
already seen how small this quantity is. It supplies 
in some soils what is wanting, and this is all they 
can do. This may and very often does increase the 



70 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

growing crop. They act like the iron in the blood. 
They make the plant healthy and strong, so that it 
sends out many active roots which feed on the soil- 
food, and thus a heavy growth is secured, but 
they make very little contribution to the permanent 
food supply of the soil. They have rather stimu- 
lated it to extra effort, and often it is left poorer. 

The long continued growth of heavy crops by 
use of commercial fertilizers alone does not build 
up a high state of fertility. Now, we have in the 
first twelve inches of soil about four to eight thou- 
sand pounds of phosphoric acid, sixteen hundred 
pounds of potash, and from five hundred to four 
thousand pounds of nitrogen to each acre of land. 
The next twelve inches have rather more of all ex- 
cept nitrogen. What we need then is a system of 
culture which will make available these vast quan- 
tities of locked-up plant-food. Using chemical fer- 
tilizers does not do this. Using homemade manure 
does help to do so. 

Chemical fertilizers are useful if properly used, 
and often pay a good profit on the investment, but 
we should never learn to depend entirely upon 
them. Southern farmers have enough ammonia in 
their cottonseed to supply not only their own needs, 
but to supply any farm in the United States. 

QUESTIONS. 
1. What do we study here? 2. What is manure? 3. How 
ia the term used? 4. What are lot manures? 5. How may 
we improve these ? 6. Why is the liquid so valuable? 7. Do 
small quantities help? 8. How? 9. What result on fifty acres 
of wheat? 10. How does manure so increase the crop? 11. 



MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 71 

How doeB fermentation help ? 12. Why Bhould manure be kept 
dry? 13. Can the farmer afford to let his manure be leached? 
14. What should he do with the manure ? 15. Why should it 
be mixed with the soil ? 16. What other reason for this? 17. 
Why broadcast it ? 18. Why keep it dry? 19. Does feed alter 
manures? 20. Do animals add anything? 21. How? 22. 
How else do they improve manure? 23. Can a farm be kept 
rich without animals? 24. How may we express this? 25. 
What is said of barnyard manure? 26. What of other kinds? 
27. How do some plants help the soil ? 28. Do vines or roots 
do most good? 29. What is the better use of vines and 
why? 30. How else do animals furnish manure? 31. Are 
manures and fertilizers the same? 32. How do they differ? 
33. How are fertilizers made ? 34. What effect do the acids 
have? 35. What are they called? 36. How specially named ? 
37. What if the potash is the base? 38. What if lime? 39. 
How do we know their value? 40. How are they sold? 41. 
How much soluble plant- food in a ton? 42. How much phos- 
phate per acre ? 43. How much potash? 44. How much to a 
stalk of corn or cotton ? 45. What other food do plants need? 
46. Where do we get it ? 47. In what form do plants use nitro- 
gen ? 48. What are these compounds called? 49. What about 
cost and evaporation ? 50. What are guanos? 51. Where do 
we get them ? 52. To which class do they belong ? 53. Why? 
54. Is this important? 55. Why? 56, What is the chief 
source of ammonia? 57. What other difference between ma- 
nure and fertilizer ? 58. How do manures act ? 59. How do 
chemicals act? 60. Is this profitable? 61. How? 62. Do 
they help the soil ? 63. What does the first foot of soil con- 
tain ? 64. What does the next? 65. What do we need ? 66. 
How shall we get it ? 



72 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XIV. 




■•i:=l^ 



TILIZMRS 




jERY much of the profit of farming comes 
from the skillful use of manures and fer- 
tilizers. Manures are generally coarse vege- 
table matter in process of decay. To get the fullest 
benefit from them we must so direct this decay 
as not to lose any of the elements of plant-food. 
Some of these, the nitrogen and ammonia, for in- 
stance, will readily evaporate and thus be lost. 
Others, such as the potash, are readily dissolved 
and carried away with the water. But a certain 
quantity of water is needed to help the decaying 
process. 

Very many books have been written on compost 
heaps. These are heaps of stable manure, combined 
with other vegetable matter, mineral compounds or 
chemical fertilizers, or all of these at once. The ob- 
ject of composting was to get the manure so that we 
may mix it more thoroughly with the soil. The 
mineral and chemical substances were used to ab- 



HOW TO USE MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 73 

sorb the ammonia, potash, and other elements as 
the heap rotted. The end in view was to get a re- 
sult or compost that would furnish all the elements 
of food in readily soluble condition. When these 
heaps were made they became very much heated, as 
the rotting process is slow burning. This heat at 
first helps to hasten decay, but wlien very hot de- 
stroys the very best elements of food. 

Long experience and thousands of experiments 
have tended to change the views of our best farmers. 
We now find that we get better results by compost- 
ing in the field. Instead of costly work, long con- 
tinued after the old style, we believe it to be better 
to carry the manure directly from the stalls or sheds 
and spread it upon the field, and if we wish to add 
other substances, do so as we distribute or after- 
wards. It will be profitable to keep on hand Ger- 
man kainit, acid phosphate, and gypsum, or land 
plaster, and sprinkle these over the manure as we 
clean the stalls or pile the manure under the shed. 
These will absorb all escaping gases. When it is 
not convenient to do this, the same results may be 
gained by mixing them in the field. 

The advantage of this method is that the chemi- 
cal reactions take place in the soil and help to make 
it loose. At the same time they cause other chemi- 
cal changes in the soil itself. Another important 
point in the use of manures is how to apply them as 
to depth. Many have contended that they should 
be put deep down in the soil to prevent loss by 
evaporation. This idea is not well founded, because 



74 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

the fine soil is a wonderful absorbent and readily 
holds all gases. Dust is the best destroyer of all 
odors or smells. Another reason why this is not 
best is found in the fact that the valuable part is the 
soluble part. Water tends to go dbwn, and the 
general tendency is to carry all soluble elements 
with it. We find this illustrated in the common 
farm ash-barrel or hopper. We put the ashes in, 
pour the water on top, clear as a crystal. In a short 
while this same water runs out at the bottom but 
not clear. It has taken the soluble potash from the 
ashes along with it and is now a highly colored lye. 
So in the field the tendency is for the water to 
carry all soluble plant-food downward. We say the 
tendency because capillary attraction and root action 
very greatly modify this. But this tendency is so 
strong that it is safe to use most manure very shal- 
low. Some do the best work when used entirely on 
top of the soil. The only danger in shallow use 
comes from the fact that manure is useless without 
water, and the seasons may sometimes dry the soil 
below the manure. In such cases the manure can 
do no good. A safe rule is to use all manures shal- 
low in the fall and winter and a little deeper in 
spring and summer. 

Another point of great value to the farmer is 
equal, thorough distribution. Every inch of soil 
will be filled with roots seeking food, and every inch 
should have food ready. If the manure is put in 
the drill a strong plant is started, and calculations 
are made for a vigorous crop. When the fruiting 



HOW TO USE MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 75 

season is reached and the demand for food is heavi- 
est and every energy of the plant is strained in 
search of needed nourishment, then the roots are 
thrust out to the middle and find a soil much poorer 
than that in which the plant started. There is dis- 
appointment. The plant begins to readjust. It 
can not secure the needed food. It throws off the 
young fruit. This reaction is always hurtful, some- 
times ruinous. The limbs or leaves are already 
formed. They are tougher than the young fruit. 
They hold on and the fruit falls. Cotton-growers 
suffer immense loss in this way. Other plants may 
not show the harm so plainly in the fields, but they 
will in the barn. The wheat grains will be fewer, 
smaller and lighter. Corn will give nubbins in- 
stead of full ears. If all the soil had been alike the 
growth would have been healthy and the crop bet- 
ter, less stalk and more fruit. 

Again, the manure when thoroughly mixed will 
be reached by more of the soil-water, and hence 
more of it will be dissolved. What we have said 
about manure is, in general, true about fertilizers. 
The soluble part is the only useful part, and they 
should be used shallow. 

The food in them, being ready for immediate use, 
if placed all in the hill or drill, will give an un- 
natural stimulus to the young plants. As this kind 
of plant food is always costly the farmer should get 
the greatest possible good the first crop. This he 
can not do if only a few of the plant's roots reach 
the supply of food. All plants need most help when 



78 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

putting on fruit. Part of the food should always be 
reserved for the fruiting season. For this reason 
many have felt that only a part of fertilizers should 
be used when planting. The other part should be 
put in when cultivating cultured crops, and used as a 
top-dressing on grain or grass crops. Experiments lean 
strongly to this theory. Whatever the method of 
using, the success will be greater if the soil and ma- 
nure be thoroughly stirred together. 

The quantity to be supplied is an interesting ques- 
tion. We have already said that extremely small 
quantities of soluble plant-food make great increase in 
the yield. Where a pound of potash, phosphoric acid, 
or nitrogen has been given to be divided among thou- 
sands of plants, the effect has been great. Does it 
hold true that we can increase the crop as we increase 
the foods? It seems to be true. Many experiments 
seem to show that a ton of fertilizer per acre will give 
a larger clear profit on the money cost than 150 
pounds. Good common sense and great skill are 
needed in using these great quantities. There must 
be a corresponding increase in the depth of the soil, 
the supply of water, and number of plants per acre. 
The culture must be rapid and skilled. 

With proper care there seems to be no known 
limit to quantity that may be profitably used. 
Market gardeners and truck farmers find it profit- 
able to cover the soil several inches with good stable 
manure. More than forty tons per acre are some- 
times used. After they have mixed this thoroughly 
with the soil, they sometimes add large quantities 



HOW TO USE MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 77 

of chemical fertilizers. In this way they are able to 
grow many successful crops on the same soil in one 
year. The danger line does not seem to lie in that 
direction. Strange as it may seem, it is in many 
cases true that rich soils show greater profits on high 
manuring than poor soils. This can be understood 
if we remember the statement already made that 
soils are poor on account of bad mechanical condi- 
tions. This condition does not give the added food 
a fair chance. The better crops your land is able to 
produce, and therefore the less it seems to need ma- 
nure, the better it will pay you for high manuring. 
A healthy man can eat and digest a larger dinner 
than a thin, sickly one. 

There is another important side to the question of 
manuring. All crops do not need the same food. 
While certain of the elements already named are 
found in all plants, they are not required in the same 
quantities by each. Again, the available plant food 
in all soils is not the same. Put these together and 
we see tliat very different amounts of certain ele- 
ments would be needed to make the best crops. If 
a soil is lacking in potash, but pretty well supplied 
with phosphoric acid, lime and nitrogen, you need 
only to supply the potash and get a good crop. This 
would be still more the case if the crop we wished 
to grow upon that soil was one that required a large 
quantity of potash. If two of these elements were 
lacking, then we must supply both. Simply supply- 
ing one would not secure a good crop. If potash 
and phosphoric acid are both wanting, then supply- 



78 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

ing the potash would not make the crop. If phos- 
phoric acid alone be added, we will not get the crop. 
But if we add both the potash and the phosphate we 
get the desired yield. 

We have some soils in which very little of either 
of the four needed elements is soluble. Such soils 
need a complete manure. Stable manure suits such 
soils. Ammoniated standard guano suits such 
fields. So that we find that diff'erent crops demand 
different help. Wheat needs ammonia as well as 
phosphate. Oats seem to do as well with phos- 
phate alone in fall or at sowing time, but all grains 
and grasses rejoice in a top-dressing of a highly am- 
moniated preparation in the spring while growing 
rapidly. Indian corn does well with phosphate and 
potash. Grapes, watermelons, and other fruits and 
many vegetables do best with large doses of potash 
and some phosphate added. The cotton plant will 
do well with a complete fertilizer, but does not seem 
to care much if you leave off the nitrogen. The 
legumes generally get all the needed nitrogen from 
the air. They need potash and lime. 

By studying these things farmers may save hun- 
dreds of thousands of dollars now wasted by putting 
on crops the wrong elements. The proper plan is 
to get the several articles and do your own mixing. 
In this way each crop can be furnished with what 
it needs and nothing be lost. The separate articles 
can be bought very much cheaper than ready made 
mixtures. About fifty per cent, may be saved in 
this way. Phosphate flour, potash or kainit can be 



HOW TO USE MA.NURES AND FERTILIZERS. 79 

bought very cheaply if taken in car-load lots un- 
sacked. It is true that very many will not need a 
car-load, but several farmers can join to purchase 
their needed supplies. 

Nitrogen is the most expensive item. In South- 
ern States we need to buy very little of this, because 
we have cotton-seed in abundance. Cotton-seed 
meal furnishes the very best form of ammonia for 
farm use. If you do not own a cotton -oil mill you 
can easily exchange your seed for the meal. But if 
all the barn yard manure is saved and used, and all 
vegetable matter on the farm turned into the farm 
soil, very little additional ammonia will be needed. 
It is cheaper to make ammonia than to buy it. 

We are not opposed to the use of chemical fertil- 
izers. We do believe that very much money is 
wasted in this business. We think that when our 
boys are so taught as to understand the science and 
art of farming, they will need to buy very little ma- 
nure of any sort. Culture and economy of home 
supplies will make their farms rich. 

Plants do not create anything. All the growing- 
crops do not add an ounce to the material world, 
nor does their death and consumption take away 
anything. They only change the form of the mat- 
ter. It is the farmer's place to direct in these won- 
derful changes, without which the world would soon 
die. If he does this wisely, he will be prosperous 
and happy. If he does it ignorantly, he will be 
poor and unhappy. 



80 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What do we s*udy in this chapter? 2. What adds to the 
profit of farm'ng? 3. What is the nature of ammonia? 4. 
What of potash? 5 What is said of compost heaps? 6. What 
was the object? 7. What happens first? 8. How does the 
heat act? 9. What is the present belief? 10. How do we keep 
the grasses? 11. What are the advantages of mixing in the 
fie'd? 12. What do some think of depth of use? 13. Why is 
this unnecessary? 14. What other reasons? 15. Tlhistrate. 
16 What is the tendency? 17. What hinders? 18 What is 
the only danger of shallow use? 19. What other point is im- 
portant? 20. What evil results from drilling manure? 21. 
What is often the result? 22. Why does fruit shed rather 
than leaves? 23. Do other plants suffer as well as cotton? 24. 
What other good results from broadcasting? 25. Is same true 
of fertilizprs? 26 Explain their action. 27. When do plants 
need most help? 28. What then may be best? 29 Will thor- 
ough mixture always pay? What about the quantity? 30. 
How should large quantities be used? 31. What about the 
plowing, water, etc? 32. Is there any limit? 33. How do 
truckers manure? 34. What if the soil is rich? 35. Is me- 
chanical condtion important ? 36 Do all crops need the same 
manuring? 37. Why not? 38, What element must be sup- 
plied? 39 What if two are lacking? 40. What if all four? 
41. What does wheat need? 42. What do oats need? 43. 
What do all grains and g'-asses need? 44. What su ts corn? 
45. Grapes, melons, and ft nits? 46. Cotton needs what? 47. 
Legumes need what? 48. What is the proper plan? 49. What 
can be saved? 50 How? 51 Do Sonthern far'ners need to buy 
ammonia? 52. What will result from education? 53. What 
do plants do? 54. What can the farmer do? 



PLANTING 



81 



CHAPTER XV. 





ERY much of the success of any farmer de- 
fq pends upon planting his crop. It is no 
easy matter to decide just what we shall 
plant. It will not be wise to plant just because a 
plant will grow. We want to consider many things. 
M^hat do we know how to plant successfully ? If 
we do not know how to make any given crop, it 
is folly to plant that crop. A farmer who knows 
nothing about the culture of tobacco, should not 
risk his crop in tobacco. So of any other crop. 
First, study yourself and see what you know how to 
grow successfully. 

We must consider our climate and what suits to 
grow in our latitude. Pineapples are very good 
things to eat and sell well, but it is worse than folly 
to plant pineapples in a cold climate. We must 
study our market surroundings. Hops might grow 
very well where we live, but if nobody uses hops, it 



88 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

would not be profitable to grow hops. We want to 
have such crops for sale as will find a market. 
Sometimes the market may not be near at hand, 
but may be sure and profitable. Then we must 
study the question of transportation. Some crops 
bear transportation a long way and pay well. Others 
will grow well in the South, and are in great de- 
mand in the large cities of the North, but cost too 
much to carry, or perish too quickly on the way. 
We must not plant unless we can secure labor when 
needed. It is folly to plant and lose for want of 
labor. 

Then again, some soils are adapted to the growth 
of some crops, but not to others. We must study 
our soil adaptions. These and other minor points 
need careful thought before we can decide what to 
plant. Often we will find that it will not be best to 
confine our attention to a single crop, but to plant 
many sorts. When this is the case, a due propor- 
tioning so as not to interfere with each other in 
culture, gathering, marketing, and so on, must be 
considered. 

Perhaps the most important question just here 
will be, what are we planting for? If for the mar- 
ket, then one line may be best. If for home con- 
sumption, then another. Generally both will enter 
largely into our plans, and to balance them well 
will insure success. The man who makes his living 
from the soil is never wise if he buys what his soil 
will grow. Home supplies should always be first 
provided for, market supplies afterward. 



PLANTING 88 

Giving careful thought along these lines, we de- 
cide what to plant. Next in order, we come to think 
when to plant. Very many have no settled ideas 
on this point. They see others planting, and they 
plant. Very often failure results from planting at 
the wrong time. Seeds seem to have a sort of a 
sense of timeliness. Many of them will not germi- 
nate until the proper season comes. Grain crops, if 
sown too early in the fall, are liable to be injured 
seriously by insects. They may also grow too much 
before winter begins, and then be ruined by the 
freezes. On the other hand, if sown too late they 
can not develop sufficient roots to resist the winter 
freezes. To know just when to sow each crop is 
then a matter of great importance. Of course, this 
varies very much in different localities. Each man 
must study this question for his own surroundings. 
Much the same is true of spring-planted or annual 
crops. Some of these need a long growing period. 
Others need a rapid growth. Hence, some should 
be planted early, others late when the soil is 
thoroughly warm. The nature of the plant and the 
condition of the soil are important to consider on 
this point. A happy medium is generally safe. 

Many think the moon's phases are important. They 
tell you with great confidence that you must observe 
the moon and plant accordingly. This advice is 
contrary to science. The moon's phases are never 
the same two successive days as regards any particu- 
lar locality. There are no quarters to the moon. 
It changes all the while, and not at stated periods. 



84 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

Again, these people do not agree among themselves. 
Take the trouble to keep a careful record and you 
will soon find that they advise differently. But the 
question is at last one to be settled by experience, 
and not by argument. Experience shows that the 
plants do not observe the phases of the moon, but 
grow according to the intelligence and industry of 
the grower. 

This is the superstition of the Dark Ages, handed 
down from sire to son. It is noticed here because 
it has such a strong hold upon the popular mind. 
One reason for this is, that men who are careful 
enough to have certain rules here, will be apt to be 
careful in all their plans and systematic in all their 
work. Such men generally succeed. Their success 
gives dignity to this superstition. Such deep-rooted 
traditions can be corrected only by science and edu- 
cation. Instead of sneering at them, we should 
constantly turn on the light. Do not farm in the 
moon. Farm on your soil. Study your climate, 
and the nature of the crops you wish to grow, and 
plant wisely and well. 

How to plant is another important point. Shall 
we plant shallow or deep, broadcast or in drills? 
Such inquiries need attention. Very many seeds 
are lost by planting too deep. Others are fed to 
birds, and perish by sunshine because they are not 
covered, or too lightly covered. Small grains, gen- 
erally, should be covered from three-fourths of an 
inch to an inch and a half. They may come up 
outside of this range, but they will do nothing. 



PLANTING 86 

The shallow-rooted plants will be apt to be killed 
by winter freezes. The deep-rooted will perish, be- 
cause they can not stool or joint. 

For spring crops, it is well to have reference to 
the supply of moisture. Many seed, cotton for 
instance, do well planted shallow if the spring 
drouths do not dry the soil below the seed. In all 
cases the soil should be very finely pulverized, and 
closely pressed around the seed. Success often de- 
pends largely upon this pressure. Small seed, such 
as turnips, will rarely fail to come if the soil is 
pressed after planting. A roller is the best tool for 
this work. 

Securing a stand is one of the essential points in 
successful farming. With a stand we may succeed. 
Without it we can not. Replanting does not often 
pay for the trouble. A good stand means enough 
plants, not too many and not too few. There is 
almost as much damage on one side as on the other. 
Too many plants weaken all the plants. If any 
small grain crop be too thick, the evil can not be 
remedied. This is a frequent cause of injury to 
crops. Even the cultivated crops suffer from this 
cause. An overstand of corn weakens all the stalks, 
and makes the ears small or none. Even when re- 
moved, unless this is carefully done very soon after 
the corn comes up there is damage. The young 
stalks which are removed have taken part of the 
food which the stalks that are left needed. Besides 
this, there is more or less tearing of the roots of the 
plants which are left. All of this works harm to 
the crop. 



86 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

With cotton it is customary to plant very many 
more seed than are needed for a stand. Usually 
we plant from ten to forty times as many as we 
wish to grow. Of course, all of these young plants 
consume part of the food needed for the growing of 
the crop. So much is lost. Then the choppingout 
tears the tender roots of the plants left. Often they 
fall prostrate and must be propped up to live and 
get a new start. In this way their early growth is 
checked. Besides all this damage comes in the cost 
of removal, generally quite an item, as farmers well 
know. These objections apply with equal if not 
greater force to other crops. Turnips, cabbage, clo- 
ver, millet, and others are often seriously damaged 
by crowding. Just enough plants and no more is 
what we need to secure the best results. Study, 
calculation, experiments and care will be needed here. 

There is one other important item to think about 
here : the value of the seed thus wasted runs an- 
nually up into the millions. About three times 
as many bushels of wheat are used for seed as is 
necessary to secure a stand. So with other grains. 
About forty millions of bushels of cottonseed are 
wasted every time a crop is planted, just for the 
fun of paying to have their heads cut off as soon as 
they begin to grow. The waste here is about equal 
to the guano bill of the South. There would be 
about as much business sense in collecting about 
six millions of dollars every spring from cotton- 
planters and burning it. The same is true in the 
mall grain crops. These things ought not so to be. 



PLANTING 87 

Stop these great leaks in farm economy. Plant 
good seed, just enough of them, and just right, so 
they will grow. 

Shall we use fertilizers with the seed when planting? 
Generally it is well to do so. Small quantities of 
soluble food ready for the tender roots as soon as 
they begin to grow, give vigor to the young plants. 
A little ammonia is very helpful at this period. 

Do not plant too much. Overcropping is a fault 
with many young farmers. Eager to succeed, they 
plant more than they can give thorough culture. 
The expense in such cases may easily absorb the 
profit. A large crop may be gathered and no profit 
realized. 

"A little farm well tilled, 
A little wife well willed, 
Give me, give rue." 

QUESTIONS. 
1. Does planting require study? 2, What is the first to be 
considered? 3. Why? 4. What next? 5. What next? 6. Is 
labor to be considered? 7. Is the soil? 8. Is a single crop 
best? 9. For what shall we plant? 10. What will a wise 
farmer never do? 11. What is next to be studied? 12. Why 
is the right time so important? 13. Does this vary? 14. How 
is it with ppring crops? 15. Should we observe the moon in 
planting? 16. Why not? 17. Do the moonites agree? 18. Do 
plants observe the moon's phases? 19. Why has this super- 
stition such hold? 20. What should be done? 21. What ia 
said about how to plant? 22. Is the depth important? 23. Is 
pressure important? 24. Do we need a good stand? 25. What 
is a good stand? 26. What evils come from overstand? 27. 
How dowe plant cotton? 28. How is this hurtful? 29. Is the 
same true of other crops? 30. What do we need? 31. Is the 
value of seed important? 32. How much annual loss in cotton 
crop? 33. Is this sensible? 34. Does fertilizing with seed pay? 
35. How much should we plant? 



88 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XVI. 




HERE is as much difference in the vari' 
eties of seed as there is in the blood of 
horses. A valuable horse may sometimes spring 
from a scrub, but you can not count upon his doing 
so, and he will never sell for his value. The brand 
of his origin is upon hira. 

So you may sometimes succeed with ordinary 
seed, but you can not know you will. Seeds pro_ 
ducing fruit after their kind are as old as the world^ 
Their nature is to be true to their kind. Generally^ 
improved seed have a tendency to go back to the 
kind from which they were improved. This ten- 
dency is so well known that constant care is exer- 
cised by all seedsmen to counteract this. Seeds 
have been wonderfully improved by careful atten- 
tion to well-known laws of plant life. Good soil 
thorough culture, and high manuring will often 
produce far better seed than those planted. By 
selecting the best specimens of these and giving 



SELECTING SEED 89 

them careful attention for several seasons, they be- 
come set in type and distinct in variety. By per- 
sisting in this course, the possibilities of improve- 
ment are almost without limit. 

Plants have male and female blooms or organs, 
and the pollen from the male of one plant is often 
carried by insects and winds to the stigma of other 
plants. In this way, they grow a resultant seed 
having part of the properties of each. These 
crosses very greatly improve some varieties, and 
often produce entirely new varieties. 

These laws are so sure in their action and so well 
understood, that experts produce almost any desired 
changes. The pollen from large varieties of corn 
will soon destroy popcorn entirely if they are 
planted near each other. The popcorn will have 
large grains, and will not pop. Okra and cotton 
can be crossed, and pumpkins and gourds will ruin 
watermelons. Now, from these well-known facts, 
we may draw some valuable lessons. Seeds may 
be greatly improved, or they may be entirely 
ruined, as they are crossed with higher or lower 
varieties. The soil that produces a poor variety 
will produce a good just as easily. The manure 
wasted upon one may be saved upon the other. 
The same labor that produces a poor crop may pro- 
duce a good one. 

The seed may, and often does, settle the whole 
question of profit and loss upon the farm. It is 
always cheapest to use the best seed. Even in 
any given lot of seed, some are better than others, 



90 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

Using a sieve or fan, or otherwise separating the 
best seed, will be found to pay. All the light and 
chaffy seed can thus be removed. At the same 
time, many weed seeds that we do not want can 
be separated and destroyed. Purity of seed should 
be carefully guarded. Many diseases are carried 
from season to season upon the seed. Smut and 
sometimes rust are carried this way. Washing 
the seed in a strong solution of bluestone will kill 
the smut pores, and help to prevent rust to some 
extent by insuring healthy stalks. Washing in 
water at one hundred and thirty-four degrees is said 
to have the same effect. 

Again, all seed have not the same germinating 
power. Be careful to select sound seed. A few seed 
placed between two layers of cotton, and kept moist 
for a few days will show what per cent, of the seed 
are sound. If j'ou have not the cotton, a little moist 
soil will do as well. Each farmer can do much toward 
keeping his seed pure and good by careful methods of 
selecting on his own farm. In small grain, a few acrCg 
should be selected from which the seed are to be saved . 
Before the grain is ripe, when in full head, go 
through this plat and with the knife cut all spuri- 
ous heads, leaving only those of the kind to be 
saved. Let these seed-patches stand until the grain 
is fully ripe before cutting. 

In corn-fields, go through before the gatherers and 
select the best stalks, cut these, and keep separate. 
From the best ears on these select your planting-corn. 
In selecting cottonseed, very great care is needed- 
There are a great many varieties. Each has some 



SELECTING SEED 91 

merit, none have all the good points, very few are ab- 
solutely pure. Get the seed that give you the best 
returns for your labor. Then go through the fields 
when in the best stage of opening, and select the 
finest bolls, and from these sav^e your planting-seed. 
In this way you may improve any variety you have 
selected. 

Thousands of dollars are yearly lost in the South 
purchasing worthless seed. Very many of these we 
can grow better here. Irish potato seed grown and 
kept here are better than those we buy. By plant- 
ing a second crop and saving seed from them, 
we will have the choicest. Beans and peas are suf- 
fered to rot in our gardens, and new seed bought 
for the next crop. The seed bills alone of our 
Southern farmers and gardeners would add mate- 
rially to our wealth, if we raised the seed. Indeed, 
there is no good reason why we should not make 
thousands of dollars each year selling the seeds we 
are now buying. The climate is in our favor. 

Of one thing we should always be sure. Seed 
for planting should be thoroughly ripe before they 
are gathered. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. Show the inaportance of selerting seed. 2. What is the 
tendency of seed? 3. How are they improved? 4. How far 
may this be carried? 5. What organs have plants? 6. What 
results from crossing? 7. Are these laws known? 8. Give 
illuj'trations 9. What may we do? 10. Show whv profit de- 
pends upon seed. 11. Hnw may we further improve seed? 
12. How prevent some diseases? 13. What else sh uM be 
done? 14. How may small grain be improved? 15. How may 
corn be improved? 16. How may cotton? 17. What do 
Southern farmers do? 18. Can they do better? 



92 AGRIOULTUKE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XVII. 



pRmptSfc^^SoiL; 





S we are now ready for planting, how shall 
we prepare the soil ? Much depends upon 
previous work. If the heavy, deep plowing 
and subsoiling have been done in the previous sum- 
mer and fall, we are ready to begin with harrows. 
On many farms this has not been done. King cot- 
ton, the salvation and ruin of Southern farming, de- 
manded^our time and labor, and often occupied the 
very ground we now need for sowing wheat, barley, 
oats and rye. 

"We must begin at the beginning. About the first of 
September begin breaking the land deep with two to 
four horses, follow with a heavy roller and then with 
harrow. This should be done before the sun and 
wind have had time to bake any clay lumps that 
were turned up. Repeat this until the soil is finely 
pulverized two to four inches. If stable manure 
was on hand for these crops, it should have been 
spread before the breaking, or immediately after. 



PREPARING THE;S01L FOR PLANTING 93 

before the harrowing. Different harrows may be 
used in this work according to the character of the 
work to be done. 

Sow barley and rye as early as you can. Wheat 
should be put in during the latter half of October, 
and oats just after. All these grains should be har- 
rowed in so as to be covered about one and a fourth 
inches. As none of these crops can be worked after 
sowing, the preparations should be thorough. It is 
doubtful if drilling grain will pay in the South, ex- 
cept as a protection against winter killing. 

For spring crops, we begin to prepare according to 
the condition of the land. If the land has much 
vegetable matter on it, turn it under with two-horse 
plows, if the clay is not too wet. If spring oats are 
to be sown, put them in as early as practicable with 
small plows or harrows. Do not get them covered 
too deep. About one and a half inches is right. If 
corn-stalks are on the land, run heavy rollers over 
them. This will break them down and at the same 
time so crush them as to greatly hasten decay. 
Never burn them. 

To prepare land for corn, spread manure broad- 
cast, heavily, if you have it, turn under and har- 
row. Repeat harrowing every ten days. When 
ready to plant, harrow nicely and plant with a corn- 
planter. This is every way better than bedding, 
and planting either on the bed or in the water fur- 
row. Make the experiment for yourself, and you 
will not need any argument to settle the question. 
Corn roots need a deep soil, and this preparation 



&4 AGRICULTUBE FOR THE COMMOK SCHOOLS 

can not be loo well done. By good work and heavy 
manuring it is just as easy to grow forty bushels per 
acre as ten. The heavier the yield the cheaper the 
corn. If only chemical fertilizers are to be used, 
put them on broadcast, and do not be afraid to put 
them on. Only be careful to proportion the stalks 
left per acre to the manure used. Small yields of 
corn do not pay. Grow big crops. 

How shall we prepare for cotton? Much the same 
as for corn. Remember that cotton has deep roots 
as well as shallow, and that in fruiting season cotton 
requires great quantities of water. So you must 
break deep and thorough. Bedding the rows for 
cotton is a mistake. Only one good can it do — 
make it easier to plow the first time — but it is more 
difficult to plow every other time, and does vast in- 
jury by letting the sunshine to the roots and drying 
the ground when moisture is needed. Harrow very 
nicely, and plant on a level. We must insist on 
one thing. Never plow, harrow or plant when your 
ground is wet. 

There are many other crops, but it would make 
this little book too large to enter minutely into 
the details of all of these. The preparation for 
them is much the same. Deep fine soil will help 
every crop. We can not insist on these two points 
too much or too often. They lie at the foun- 
dation of all success. Take a hard lump of loaf 
sugar and put a drop of spirits of turpentine on it. 
In a minute you can taste the turpentine anywhere 
you touch the lump with your tongue. It has gone 



PREPARING THE SOIL FOR PLANTING 95 

all through it. Not only can you taste it, but it has 
softened the lump by p ishing its particles farther 
apart. So if you put your soil in such condition 
that capillary attraction can act fully, it will carry 
water through all the soil, and any kind of plant- 
food that may be in one part will soon be evenly 
distributed through every part. Thus you have a 
uniform soil. 

Market gardeners could not succeed at all with 
shallow plowing or with coarse lumpy soil. The 
farm is only a large garden. What is good for the 
garden is good for the farm. Spread garden methods 
over the farm, and you make the farm a garden. The 
native soil was the same. Whatever difference there 
is, is the result of your work. The crops we have 
mentioned are the staple crops, and are what we 
may call the gross-feeders. All the others, such as 
canes, melons, peas, fruits, vegetables, if there be any 
difference, require better preparation, because many 
of them are more delicate and more choice of their 
food. Thorough preparation always pays. 

QUESTIONS. 
L Of what doPB this chapter treat? 2. How should it be done ? 
3. What often prevents ? 4. How shall we prepare for grain ? 
5. When should they be sown? 6. How? 7. How prepare 
for spring grains? 8. How for corn? 9. Why deep? 10. How 
manure? 11. What shall we do for cotton? 12. Why not bed? 
13. What do we insist upon? 14. What about other crops? 
15. Illustrate the value of good work. 16. Wliat will result? 
17. How do the farm and garden compare? 18. What con- 
clusions? 



96 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XVIIT. 



ULTIVATION 




klg^tg£^ 



HE Tull theory, " Culture is Manure," has 
been well-nigh proven to be true. Under its 
magic touch, soils which have been thought 
very poor have proven very rich. If culture does not 
make manure, it certainly makes the manure do 
much greater good. By culture, we mean stirring 
the soil so as to keep the top fresh, prevent all bak- 
ing and destroy all objectionable growth. These 
hurtful weeds are so many and grow with such 
vigor that the farmer must be ever on the outlook 
for them. They slumber not, neither do they sleep. 
By night and b}'^ day the}'^ spring up and choke the 
crop. There are not many crops that can be planted 
and left alone. They require constant help. As 
soon as the seed sprout and begin to grow, noxious 
weeds do the same. 

The warm sunshine and spring winds tend to form 
a crust upon the fields. This crust prevents free circu- 
lation of air, water and sunshine. These are needed 
to prepare food for the tender roots. So this crust 



CULTIVATION 97 

breeds weeds and hurts plant roots. It must not be 
allowed to remain undisturbed. Rapid work is now 
demanded. The plowman's merry whistle should trill 
upon the morning air before the dewdrops have been 
kissed away by the sunshine. His mellow song of sweet 
content should wake the echoes after the roseate sun- 
set hues have passed away. Early and late he must 
speed the plow upon its mission of help and life. 
Care should be taken to injure the roots of the grow- 
ing plants as little as possible. Hence, light-run- 
ning plows and harrows should be used. Often and 
shallow is the motto. 

In this way, the top of the soil can be made, as it 
were, a dust blanket. In this condition it acts in 
many ways for the good of the growing plants. It 
absorbs the sun's heat, but feeds it slowly to the root- 
bed. It absorbs the dews, but prevents rapid evap- 
oration. It assists in bringing up the earth-water 
by capillary action, and at the same time prevents 
it from escaping into the air. In these and other 
ways it helps forward the rapid growth of the crops. 
The finer it is, the better it can do all of this work. 
Hence furrow after furrow is the price of success. 
Just before the corn comes up, run a light harrow 
or weeder over it. This will help to get a good 
stand, and destroy the first crop of weeds. 

When the corn is a few inches high, repeat the har- 
rowing. Follow with a hoe, thinning to a stand and 
leaving every stalk free to grow. About a week or ten 
days after, go over with a cultivator or sweep. Con- 
tiuue'this until the corn is in silk. For cotton the cul- 



98 A.GRI017LTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

ture is much the same. If a crust forms after plant- 
ing, go over with a light harrow. This helps to let the 
young cotton through, and at the same time kills 
the first crop, or coat, as we call it, of crab-grass. 
This is the great enemy of the cotton plant. Grass 
seed can not come up in freshly stirred soil. There 
must always be a small or thin crust on the ground 
before crab-grass will come up. Hence, we must stir 
the soil often and thoroughly to keep down the 
grass. When the cotton has been up long enough 
for the second set of leaves to appear, harrow thor- 
oughly or plow close up with scrape and chop out 
to a stand as rapidly as possible. The quicker this 
is done, the surer the crop. Very many object to 
this statement, but a long experience is on this side- 
Give early vigor to the cotton plants, if you wish to 
be sure of a good crop. Late cotton sometimes suc- 
ceeds but whether planted early or late, as soon as 
the plants come up every effort should be made to 
hasten their growth. When brought to a stand, a 
plow should follow, throwing a little soil to the roots 
of the cotton. If the work has been well done so 
far, the crop is well-nigh safe. If we have destroyed 
all the May grass and secured a good stand and only 
a stand, rapid use of cultivators will do the rest. 
Always keep the middle of the rows clean and fresh 
and level. Deep middle furrows are always hurtful. 
A little work with hoes will be needed, and should 
be promptly done. Delay here is costly and dan- 
gerous. Continue this culture until the first bolls 



CULTIVATION 90 

are about grown. Of course, these directions are 
necessarily general rather than specific. Soil condi- 
tions and previous culture will often modify plans. 
Fresh land, stumpy fields, stony fields, cotton after 
stubble, or cotton after cotton, will greatly change 
the conditions. Common sense must be used by the 
farmer. 

The general principle is, keep the field clean of 
grass and weeds and stir the soil often and shallow, 
not over two inches after the blooms appear. After 
this period the feeding roots are everywhere in the 
soil. Never break these purposely. What we have 
said about these two leading crops of the South, is 
largely true of all other crops. Farmers are tempted 
to stop plowing during a drouth. This is a mistake. 
The dryer it gets the oftener your dust-blanket 
should be stirred and the finer it should be made- 
Peas and sorghum-cane do not need much culture. 
Melon vines should not be moved after young mel. 
ons appear. Root crops, such as beets, turnips, and 
potatoes may be plowed deeper than crops which 
fruit above ground. Gardens and truck patrhes re- 
quire very rapid and thorough culture. As a rule, 
the greater yield you expect the oftener you must 
work. 

It is an old adage that a "Stitch in time saves 
nine." Nowhere is this more true than upon the 
farm. A lick in time and a lick every time, should 
be the farmer's motto. 

Lore. 



100 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

QUESTIONS. 
1. What of the Tull theory? 2. What is culture? 3. Why 
needed? 4. Why should it continue? 5. What should be 
heard? 6. Why shallow? 7. What does the dust-blanket do? 
8. Should it be fine? 9 Give culture for corn. 10. Give cul- 
ture for cotton. 11. Why should this be early? 12. How 
should we continue? 13. How about middles? 14. Are these 
directions specific? 15. What may cause variety? 16. What 
is the general principle? 17. Should dry weather stop us? 18. 
Tell about other crops. 19. Tell about the garden. 20. What 
is the farmer's motto here? 



GATHERING AND HOUSING 



101 



CHAPTER XIX. 

' OfS 

1(^1 




'^^. 




HE laborer is worthy" of his' hire," and so 
^^^^ we find that seed time is followed by the 
harvest day. There is more pleasure in the in- 
gathering than in the outlaying. The harvest 
feast and the harvest song are as old as history. 
The sweltering days give rich reward. The small 
grains will come first. When the golden tint is 
well-set and the firm grain is in the head, the 
mower, reaper, sickle and scythe are heard in the 
land. If the grain is for hay -feeding, cut just as 
the dough stage is reached. If for grinding, then 
it should be fairly ripe. If for seed, thorough ripen- 
ing is best. Grains, wheat particularly, make 
whiter flour if reaped before too heavy a coat of 
bran is formed. Local surroundings will decide 
whether the reaping shall be done by hand or 
machine. 

After the grain has been placed in dozens and 



102 AQBIOULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

well capped, it should stand until thoroughly dry, 
if the weather will permit. If you are dependent 
upon the traveling thresher, it is well to have plenty 
of barn room. In such cases, it is always safe to 
house as soon as dry enough. Storms or continued 
rainy spells can soon ruin or greatly damage the 
crop. Here "An ounce of prevention is worth a 
pound of cure." Some find it cheaper to provide 
weather-caps of duck cloth, each corner weighted, 
and put these over the shocks or hand-stacks. They 
save the hauling and attendant waste and handling. 
The straw is getting too valuable to lose. Taking 
care of the grain will also take care of the straw 
until the thresher comes. If the straw is to be fed 
to your cattle, a straw-rack will be a great saving. 
Build a long shelter and board it cheaply. Have 
it about thirty feet inside and about nine feet high. 
From the middle have peeled pine poles placed 
about four inches apart, and ending about three 
feet above the ground on either side. Have open 
driveway about eight or ten feet running entire 
length. On either side of front, build a chafF-room. 
Have a floor six feet wide running along over the 
wagon way. 

Place the machine so that the straw will be dis- 
charged by stacker on the six-foot floor. A hand 
with a fork can easily distribute it along on the 
poles on either side. When the threshing is over, 
the straw and chaff" will be ready for feeding with- 
out more handling. Light gates or doors can be 
used if desired. The cattle can feed themselves at 



GATHERING AND HOUSING 103 

night and be shielded from all bad weather. The 
manure will be dry and ready for the field. Any 
kind of hay may be thrown into this rack. It is a 
great labor-saver as well as food-saver. The grain 
should be at once placed in rat-proof, weavil-free 
bins. A little care will so build them that rats can 
not get in. If the grain is dry and kept so, weavils 
are not apt to appear. Heat hatches them and mois- 
ture creates the heat. A little air-slacked lime 
sprinkled over the grain will absorb the moisture, 
and help to prevent weavils. A bottle of carbon bi- 
sulphide left unstopped will drive the flies away and 
kill the eggs. As carbon oisulphide is highly inflam- 
mable, it should be placed in a box and fixed so 
that it will not be spilled. 

Keep dry and cool and all will be safe. A good 
grain-house is an essential part of a farm. 

For corn-gathering, a good many ways have been 
recommended. Fodder-pulling has been a regular 
part of farm work, but we have learned that hay is 
cheaper than fodder, and in every way as good. We 
have also learned that the stalk is as good for hay 
as the blade. The increased value of the hay re- 
sulting from using stalks as well as blades is lead- 
ing farmers to quit pulling fodder and corn in the 
old way. We note when the grain is beginning to 
harden and the fodder is fully ripe, but not all 
burned, and then cut the stalks and stack them in 
fields four weeks or more. When the corn is dry, 
we haul it in, and with a shredding-machine shuck 
off the ear, and grind the stalk, shuck and fodder 



104 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

into hay as good as the fodder alone, and three 
times as much of it. Animals eagerly devour this 
hay, and do well when fed upon it. 

We have thus saved a great deal of labor and ex- 
pense and gathered a much larger crop of food from 
the same area. This plan is new in the South, and will 
be somewhat slow of adoption. The cost of shredders 
and engines to run them is the chief difficulty. 
This can be met in two ways. Either club together 
and buy one outfit for several farms, or let the man 
who runs the traveling threshers run a traveling 
shredder. The corn stalks are worth as much as 
the corn. Why then should we lose them as we 
have been doing? Saving is as important as mak- 
ing, and often much easier and more profitable. 
Bale the hay and care for the corn, and you will 
have a larger clear gain. But if you prefer the old 
way, the fodder should not be pulled too early, as it 
is the lungs of the corn-plant, and stops all work in 
the stalk when taken off. Pulling fodder always 
makes the grain lighter. Put the corn away in the 
shuck, a little damp, mix in a little lime to keep 
rats out, and use carbon bisulphide for weavils. The 
annual loss from rats is enormous, running up into 
millions of dollars. Build good cribs, rat-proof, 
and then use rough on rats and keep plenty of cats. 

As to gathering cotton, but little need be said. 
The growth of the lint bursts open the bolls. This 
growth continues for several days after the opening. 
Picking cracked bolls is not wise. If the weather 
is good, this growth will be finished in three or four 



GATHEEING AND HOUSING l0& 

days. There is no gain by leaving the open cotton 
after this. All chances considered, it is well to keep 
up with the picking. The handling after picking 
is quite important. The common custom of putting 
the cotton in the wagon as it is picked and unload- 
ing it at the gin is objectionable from several points. 
The cracked bolls being still damp, the lint will be 
cut off in lumps, and the sample will be either gin 
cut or nappy, or both. Such bales never bring the 
highest market price. Add to this the trash from 
careless picking, and you have one cause for the 
loss of millions of dollars every crop. 

Careless packing causes another line of losses. 
There is no more unsightly thing thrown upon the 
market than the average bale of American cotton. 
The known uncertainty as to uniformity of quality 
necessitates repeated samplings. Each of these 
leaves an ugly scar, and causes a loss of weight. 
The size and weight make the bale awkward to 
handle. The rough covering catches all sorts of 
filth. This heavy covering is worthless at the fac- 
tory, and is deducted in pricing. All these causes 
result in a loss of about two dollars and seventy-five 
cents per bale. With a ten million bale crop this 
would mean twenty-seven and a half millions of 
dollars. This vast sum could be saved by chang- 
ing the method of baling. It is hard to change a 
well-established custom, but when about one-tenth 
of the value of each crop is lost, it is worth while to 
do something. The round-bale system claims to do 
this, and is certainly worthy of the careful study of 



106 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

every cotton-planter. Another fearful loss is caused 
by the old method. Having no suitable cotton- 
house and carrying the cotton directly from the 
field to the gin, encourages the idea of carrying the 
bales from the gin to the market. In this way the 
cotton crop is annually sold upon a forced market, 
while the staple is known to be green and damp, 
and constantly losing in weight. The buyer must 
defend himself against all of these, hence the bulk 
of the crop always passes from the producer's hands 
much below its real value. 

As it requires twelve months to spin, weave and 
consume a cotton crop, so it should require twelve 
months to sell it from the producer's hands. This 
rapid forced sale costs the farmer about one cent 
per pound, or about fifty millions of dollars every 
year. This is no guess-work or fancied statement. 
It is an actual state of affairs. The direct result of 
the farmers' mismanagement in gathering this great 
crop. Thus we see about seventy-five millions of 
dollars lost upon each cotton-crop. This money we 
had made, but failed to put in our pockets. It is 
certainly time for farmers to educate their boys and 
themselves to better methods in gathering and car- 
ing for their crops. 

We can not enter minutely into every little side- 
crop. Local surroundings will generally guide in 
caring for these. 

The sweet-potato crop is one of growing importance. 
To save them is often a matter of concern to the 
grower. We should be careful not to dig them be- 



GATHERING AND HOUSING 107 

fore they are mature. There is no good in leaving 
them in the field after maturity. It is a common 
mistake to be governed entirely by the frosts in the 
matter. By cutting a potato and letting it dry 
and noting the color of the dried milk, we can 
know when they are ripe. If the milk dries white, 
they are ripe. Otherwise, they are not. When 
this is the case they should be dug regardless of 
frost. When dug, very many methods have been 
tried for saving them. We shall not select between 
them. Remember the nature of the potato and act 
accordingly. They are full of water. Much of 
this must escape or they will not keep. Never cover 
them closely until most of this water has been dried 
out. Soon after heaping them they will get very 
warm in the effort to throw off this excess of water. 
When this sweating is over, you may cover them 
with any convenient covering, as earth or cotton- 
seed, or put them in a warm cellar. They are very 
easily injured by cold and must be kept warm. 
First dry, then warm, and they are safe. A little 
vegetable heat will be developed every warm spell, 
so a small opening should always be provided for 
its escape. In extreme cold spells this should be 
closed. 

The Irish potato is another valuable crop. They 
dififer in their nature from the sweet potato. They 
are not easily affected by cold, but are inclined to 
prepare to sprout if warm. The two essential points 
in keeping them are, first, keep them in the dark ; 
second, keep cool. Light causes them to sprout, 



108 AGRICULTURE FOE THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

and in this condition, cold ruins them. Prevent 
this and they are very hard to freeze. All bruised 
tubers should be removed a few weeks after digging. 
They may be kept in boxes or barrels, in the barn 
covered with hay, or in the hills like sweet potatoes, 
but with lighter covering. A moderately cool, dark 
room may be cheaply built for them. 

These two crops may be made to save several 
millions of dollars to Southern farmers. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What thought begins this chapter? 2. What harvest 
comes first? 3. When do we cut grain? 4. How? 5. What 
next? 6. What should be plentiful? 7. What do some prefer? 
8. Should straw be saved? 9. How can this be done? 10. 
Describe straw-rack. 11. How is straw put in? 12. What ad- 
vantages? 13. What should be done with grain? 14. How 
may weavils be kept out? 15. Is a granary needed? 16. Shall 
we pull fodder? 17. What is better? 18. How is shredding 
done? 19. What do we save by it? 20 What is the chief dif- 
ficulty? 21. How may we doit? 22. What are stalks worth? 
23. If we pull fodder, how? 24. How should we care for the 
corn? 25. How should cotton be picked? 26. How handled 
afterwards? 27. What objections to present bale? 28. What 
do we loso by it? 29. What improvement is proposed? 30. 
What other source of loss at the present? 31. How shall we 
sell? 32. How should we sell? 33. What are we losing? 34. 
What is the total loss from these two? 36. What should be 
done? 86. When should sweet potatoes be dug? 37. How 
cared for? 38. How should Irish potatoes be kept? 



MARKETING CROPS 



loe 



CHAPTER XX. 




AKING crops is one thing; selling them is 
quite another, and often a more important 
one. The genial climate and generous soil 
of the South makes it an easy thing to grow good 
crops. Very little skill is required to grow cotton, 
but, as already said, the selling to advantage is quite 
difficult. 

First of all, we need to grow where we can sell to 
best advantage. This is a matter of first importance 
with all perishable products. One city may be over- 
supplied and prices dragging. In another there 
may be a scarcity and good prices may be obtained. 
Early in the season, when first grapes are ripening 
South, they bring fine prices North. Later, when 
Southern grapes are all gone, and they are ripening 
in the North, the Northern markets may -be over- 



110 AGKIOULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

stocked and dull. At this time the Southern 
markets have no grapes and will pay better prices 
for them. Sell where there is a demand for your 
goods. Keep posted that you may know. Often 
we will need others to sell for us. Generally, this is 
done for a commission or part of the sales. If com- 
mission men are honest they can save you money. 
They have the time to know and to look after the 
sale. You are compelled to look after your pro- 
duce, gather and ship. You need his services, he 
needs your produce. It is profitable to each to co- 
operate, but there is great room for cheating. 

You must depend largely upon your merchant in 
such cases. It is best to deal with persons of such 
reputation that they can not afford to be dishonest 
for the profit in your business. If there are buyers 
in your market it is safe to sell at home. It is gen- 
erally well to sell as soon as you well can. Cotton 
is about the only exception to this rule. It is the 
farmer's business to grow and sell. It is not often 
his interest to hold. In perishable crops this is par- 
ticularly true. In spring fruits and vegetables, the 
first always get the fancy prices. The preparation 
of produce for the market is a point of first impor- 
tance. A wagon load of strawberries in bulk would 
be about worthless. Packed in quarts and crated 
they would be worth about fifty dollars to eighty 
dollars. One man takes a load of sweet potatoes as 
dug from the field and finds slow sale at low fig- 
ures. His neighbor selects only good-sized potatoes, 
washes them and puts them in half bushel packages 



MARKETING CROPS 111 

and gets good prices and finds a rapid sale. These 
are perhaps two extremes, but they show the point. 
Corn may be very plentiful and worth fifteen to 
twenty cents per bushel. Hogs may at the same 
time be in demand at good prices. One man sells 
his corn and is discouraged with farming. His 
neighbor feeds the corn to hogs, sells at a good 
price, makes clear money, and is happy and thinks 
farming is all right. Hay and grain may be drag- 
ging. Cow's milk and butter may be high. Turn- 
ing the crop into live stock is simply preparing 
your goods for market. There is money in it. Al- 
ways put your produce in shape that will cost the 
least freight and bear the highest price per pound. 

You may have a few cows. There is no market 
for your milk and butter. Your neighbor may be 
in the same condition. Get together, form a stock 
company, build a creamery, and you have a market 
for all of you. Always put your produce in the 
most attractive shape to the eye. Most men buy 
from first impressions. The Italian fruit-dealer un- 
derstands this part of human nature, but he seems 
to utterly ignore the same principle in his personal 
appearance. The first of them to catch on here, 
will coin money. 

In all things intended for food, you can almost 
create a market, or control it, by having only the 
best for sale. Strictly choice fruits and vegetables 
and butter have never found a crowded market. 

Very many consumers have plenty of money. 
They do not care for the price, but they do care a 



112 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

great deal about the quality. If their taste and 
fancy is pleased, the pocket-book is all right. A 
strictly fine peach, rosy-hued and full of luscious 
juice, will demand fair figures even when ordinary 
peaches are going for a song. Perhaps the largest 
loss is found in offering our produce in bulky and 
cheap form instead of putting it in a higher valued 
shape. 

Take lumber. We lose immensely by selling it 
in rough shape from the saws instead of working it 
into the thousands of shapes that the people need. 
A log may be worth a dollar; in singletrees or ax- 
handles, ten times as much. In finer furniture, the 
value would be still greater. It must come into 
these shapes at last. 

Iron is worth in pig about ten dollars per ton. In 
nails, about fifty dollars, and in needles and knife- 
blades, about one thousand dollars per ton. 

Cotton is worth in the seed about two cents per 
pound. In lint it brings six and up. In thread it 
would bring about twelve to twenty cents. In cloth 
about fifty cents to a dollar. Why sell it in the 
rough, bulky, cheap lint-bale? You say we would 
cease to be farmers and become manufacturers. So 
we would and so we should. We should put our 
goods in shape to bring the highest value. We have 
as much reason for spinning as we have for ginning. 
There is no reason why we should forever tread the 
dusty plow furrows and enrich the world from the 
sweat of our brow. Farmers should think and act. 
If cotton is king, cotton-growers should be princes. 



MARKETING CROPS 11» 

QUESTIONS. 
1, Why should we know how to sell? 2. What is the first 
point? 3. How are the early markets for grapes? 4. Do we 
need commission men? 5. What risks do we take? 6. What 
is safest? 7. When should we sell? 8. Why? 9. Is appear- 
ance worth anything? 10. Illustrate strawberries. 11. Pota- 
toes. 12. How does corn pay best? 13. Hay and live-stock? 
14. What should you do? 15. May we create a market for 
milk? 16. Shall we please the eye? 17. What will always 
pay? 18. Where is a large loss? 19. Show this in lumber. 
20. In iron. 21. In cotton. 



114 AGRICULTURE FOR THE OOMMOX SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XXI. 




[TH poor farming there may be no profits. 
With good farming there will always be 
some profits. The farmer who knows how 
to farm will make money. The laws of the vegetable 
kingdom are definite, and can be depended upon. 
"Some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred 
fold," is not figurative language. A grain of wheat 
often makes sixteen hundred to two thousand 
grains. A grain of oats will often produce as many 
as forty heads and each head eighty grains. 
In good ground and with plenty of room they 
have sometimes one hundred heads from a grain. 
Here we have from three thousand to six thou- 
sand. One oat grain has produced, from ac- 
tual count, sixteen thousand, three hundred and 
eighty grains. One watermelon seed will produce 
several thousand seed. The mustard, turnip, cabbage, 
beet and others of these produce thousands from one. 
One cotton stalk from one seed has borne six hun- 



INVESTING PROFITS 115 

dred and forty mature bolls, each boll containing 
from four to five locks. Each lock had nine seed. 
So we have 9x4x640-23,040 seed. It is quite com- 
mon for one seed to produce two thousand. So we 
see that the farmer has a wider margin of increase 
than any other man. 

The farmer needs only to watch the expenses and 
losses to get along well. What shall he do with the 
profits? What has he been doing with them? Look 
at your cities and find whose money built them. Look 
at the railroads and ask the same question. Look at 
your banks and find where the money came from. 
There is a constant stream of people moving from 
the farms, carrying their earnings to the city. Farmers 
build the schools and pay the teachers. Very much of 
this they do in the ordinary way of human business 
life. But many farmers of set purpose invest their 
money in any and everything except building up 
the farm. 

All surplus money should go back into the farm 
in such a way as to build up the farm. There are 
very many ways to do this. Get better tools so that 
you can do better work. Buy better stock and thus 
improve your herds and stalls. Use more manure, 
better culture, and improve your soil. Build better 
houses. Add to your household conveniences so as 
lighten the housewife's work. This is not extrava- 
gance. The farm is your capital. You only en- 
rich yourself when you add to its value. Farming 
is your business. Improving your farm is adding 
to your business. You get larger returns from 



116 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

every improvement. The farm is your bank. If 
you increase your deposits, you can draw more upon 
it without risk. The farm is your home. The more 
attractive you make it, the greater will be your en- 
joyment of life. It is your wife's abiding-place. 
You should use very effort to make her happy. 
Here your children grow up. If home-life be happy 
and youth be joyous, they will abide with or near 
you in later years. 

Buy good books, musical instruments and paint- 
ings. Cultivate the minds and eyes of your chil- 
dren. Keep good chickens, fat pigs, colts, calves, 
and lambs. Cultivate flowers and fruit trees. 
Teach your children industry and economy, but not 
toil and stinginess. 

I have seen the farmer, brown and sunburnt, get 
in his rattletrap buggy with tied-up harness, hold- 
ing a hickory stick to beat the ill-fed bones, without 
overcoat or umbrella, drive off to town to look after 
his storehouses, bank buildings, railroad stocks, and 
such investments. Behind him he left a tattered 
house, paint gone, blinds hanging, panes out, yard 
fence down, flowers eat up by cows, and so on. As 
soon as his children grew up they left the farm and 
the best of all his investments was gone. Gone to 
the over-crowded city, reeking with vice and sin. 
Gone to be swallowed up in the passing throng, 
rushing on to ruin. Gone from the farm and a 
mother's broken heart. These men make a wrong 
investment of their profits. 

The best possible investment a farmer can make 



INVKSTING PROFITS 117 

is to leave behind him a better farmer, to enjoy a bet- 
ter farm. Make a happy home and leave it to happy 
children. 

QUKSTIONS. 
1. What Ih the Bnbj»!ct of tliiH chapter? 2. Should tlier© al- 
ways be a profit? .'{ Why? 4. How injiuy RraiiiH come from 
one wheat, oat, melon, or small seed? 0. How many cotton? 
6. What do thcfie give the fanner? 7. What has gone with 
his profitH? 8. WhatHhould h(! do with them? <). How cati 
he do thiH? 10. What in the fiuiii to tlie farmer? 11. What 
will resnit from thJH cauHo? 12. DeHcribt! what we Hometimes 
see. 13. What follows this scene? 14. What in the best in- 
vestment? 



118 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XXII. 



FarmIabor 



HE class of labor that can be used upon the 
farm differs very much in different parts of 

the country. We write of the labor of the 
South. We have very peculiar surroundings here. 
We must write of things as they are. We might 
like them very different, but we must do what we 
can with them as we find them. A very large part 
of our population is negroes. They were made free 
citizens by the result of the war between the States. 
Without any previous training, they were made self- 
supporting free men in theor}'. In reality they 
have never become self-supporting. They had no 
knowledge of anything except farm-work. To this 
they have been reared, but they were in no sense 
skilled farm laborers. The white man had always 
done the thinking for him. From the very necessi- 
ties of both races, the negro has been the farm-la- 
borer of the South. He knows nothing else and we 
can use him in no other way so well. He loves city 



FARM LABOR 119 

life. Idleness and company are congenial to his 
nature. From hand to mouth suits his genius, but 
the bulk of them are on the farms. How shall we 
use him has been and is the vexing question. 
There are three principal ways of trading with him. 

First. — Working on shares. Under this system the 
landowner furnishes the land, the stock, the tools, 
and the feed for the stock, and the seed for planting. 
He also provides house-rent free, furnishes fire-wood 
and water. The laborer only furnishes the work. 
He feeds himself and works the crop. The crop is 
divided equally after paying for the guano, ginning, 
and bagging and ties. It is clear at a glance that 
this is a one-sided trade. The landowner risks 
everything. The laborer risks nothing. In a large 
majority of cases the laborer has no supplies for 
himself and family and no credit. The landowner 
must furnish these and take the risk of getting his 
pay out of the crop when it is gathered. In such 
cases the laborer collects and consumes his share of 
the crop day by day before it is made. He runs no 
risk whatever. If, from any reason, providential or 
otherwise, the crop should fail, he has already got- 
ten about what it was expected to make with good 
seasons. In thousands of instances they have fallen 
behind at the end of the year and the landowner 
had no way of making himself whole. 

He was under no obligations to stay and try to do 
better. If he staid he generally did worse the second 
year. S o he has packed up and gone to do some stran- 
ger the same way the next year. Millions have been 



120 AGEIOULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

lost in this way every year by the Southern farmers. 
Many of them have lost their farms. This system, 
with slight modifications, is still practiced by a great 
many, simply because they do not see their way 
clear to do otherwise. It is objectionable from al- 
most every standpoint. It is a partnership with no 
community of interests, and no equality of risks, 
and no guarantee to the party furnishing every- 
thing. Under this system the laborer sells his labor 
high. Many shrewd young white men have seen 
this, and soon made enough money to buy out the 
landowner. This vicious system is one of the great 
drawbacks to prosperity with Southern farmers. It 
effers a premium to laziness, theft and all sorts of 
bad farming. It would not live if we were not land- 
poor. We think we must work all the land, but in 
these cases the land had better be turned to grass. 
Yet this very large class make a very large part of 
the enormous cotton crop, which keeps the price 
down. They know how to grow cotton. They 
know nothing else. They can divide this, sell and 
be gone. 

Second. — The next system is the renting of land 
for part of the crop, or for so much money. The 
large majority rent for cotton. A one-horse farm, from 
thirty to forty acres, is rented for two bales or one 
thousand pounds of lint cotton, of middling grade. 
This price was considered about fair when cotton 
was bringing about ten cents per pound. A two- 
horse farm rents for two thousand pounds. The 
renter is expected to furnish himself and family and 



FAKM LA.BOR 121 

the horse-power, guano and other expen8es. In 
very many cases, however, the renter has nothing 
and no credit, and the landowner must furnish him 
everything or stand responsible to the merchant 
who furnishes him. So the entire risk falls upon 
the landowner at last. If the crop fails or falls 
short, the renter is not hurt. The owner must bear 
the loss. This very often occurs. With cotton sell- 
ing at four to five cents, the land will hardly pay 
taxes and keep up repairs. It is a serious question, 
whether to go on or stop. 

This system was adopted when prices were up. It is 
ruinous now. But it is very hard to change customs. 
The low price hurts the tenant also. Some prefer to 
rent for part of the orop^ — say one-third of the grain 
and one-fourth of the cotton. This seems to distrib- 
ute the risk more evenly, but here, as elsewhere, the 
furnisher generally has the burden to bear. Our la- 
borers are so shiftless and own so little that they can 
rarely lose their part of the loss. The sharer or renter 
represents the labor. If he is a good farmer, active, 
industrious, and honest, these plans may work very 
well. All depends upon the man. Very little upon 
the land. Experience shows that the large majority 
of the renters under either of the above systems care 
nothing for the landowner's interest. It is all the 
same to them if the land washes away and fences 
fall to decay. They lose nothing if the houses rot 
down, or the ditches in the low lands all fill up. 

In the inefficiency of the labor lies the chief cause 
of the poor farming of the South. Land is plenti- 



122 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

ful and cheap. The careless laborer knows he can 
easily find another home. The less character he 
has, the more promises he is willing to make- 
Hence the trifling class often get the best homes. 
Farmers have not yet learned to require certificates 
of character from those who want their land. If 
they could reach a concerted plan of action requir- 
ing every renter to show that he has settled squarely 
with former employers, a new era would dawn upon 
Southern farming. 

Third. — The last and least-used plan is to hire 
the laborer for stated wages. The landowner then 
gives personal attention to the farm. This plan is 
the best from every consideration. The owner's 
eye and brain direct everything. The laborer is 
paid for what he does, and gets his pay. Both par- 
ties are stimulated to do good work. The owner 
keeps up his houses, fences, ditches, levels, and 
tools. Every detail is looked after. The laborer is 
cheerful and obedient. The air of comfort and 
prosperity is apt to prevail. These are the men 
who are making money, as a rule. Why, then, 
does not this system prevail and the others fall into 
disuse? The causes are numerous and hard to over- 
come. 

Very many of our landowners do not live upon 
their farms. They prefer to live in the cities and 
villages and follow other pursuits. Many of them 
know but little about farming and care less. They 
rent for so much, exact the rent, and care but little 
how it is produced. Very many of these once lived 



FARM LABOR 128 

upon the farm. For want of church, school, and 
social privileges they have left the farm. The two 
leading causes for this condition are too much land 
and too many negroes. The negroes, as already 
said, furnish the largest part of farm labor. The 
man who works his farm for wages must depend al- 
most entirely upon negroes for labor. Hence his 
dealings and associations must be largely with 
them. If his children are brought up to work upon 
the farm, they are thrown in daily contact with ne- 
groes. This state of affairs is not congenial to white 
people. The two races do not and can not mingle 
socially, so the white man goes to town and leaves 
the negro to run the farm. This is a disagreeable 
truth to face and to state, but it is a reality. While 
it remains, Southern farming must suffer in every 
detail. 

Perhaps after all one of the leading troubles 
in this, and every system of labor with us, is the 
want of technical education among our farmers. 
Farm-life has not been attractive to our brightest 
and best young men. General education has not 
fitted them to succeed upon the farm. They have 
gone into other pursuits. Farming has been left to 
chances. The wonderful discoveries and advances 
made in agriculture have not been taught to our 
farmers. Hence they are behind. We need to 
realize that farming is a science as well as an art. 
That both the science and the art can be taught and 
learned. We are criticized and blamed for many 
things for which we are not to blame. Our sur- 



124 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

roundings and the difficulties growing out of them 
are not understood. The difficulties of our labor sys- 
tem are at the bottom of all of our failures. When 
these shall have been fully adjusted, the South will 
enter a new era of prosperity. Our storehouses of 
farm possibilities will be thrown open and our fair 
land will bloom as a garden. 

QUESTIONS. 
1. Is farm labor the same everywhere? 2. Why are South- 
ern labors peculiar? 3. What sudden change? 4. Why is the 
negro necessarily a farm laborer? 5. Is he skilled? 6. What 
is the vexing question? 7. What is the share system? 8. Why 
is it one-sided? 9. What must the owner often do? 10. What 
result in thousands of cases? 11. Why do we continue it? 12. 
What are the objections? 13. What more results? 14. What 
is the renting system? 15. What should the renter furnish? 
16. What does he furnish? 17. What often results? 18. How 
do some rent? 19. What is the experience? 20. What is the 
cause of poor farming in the South? 21. What should be re- 
quired of renters? 22. What is the third system ? 23. Why is 
it best? 24. What does the owner do? 25. What results? 26. 
Why does this not prevail? 27. What are the two leading 
causes? 28. Who are the wage hands? 29. What is the result 
upon the whites? 30. What is the leading trouble? 31. What 
kind of education? 32. Can farming be taught and learned? 
33. What lies at the bottom of bad farming in the South? 



FARM IMPLEMENTS 



125 



CHAPTER XXIII. 







HE plow is, and ever must be, the most" im- 
portant farm tool. The ground must be 
broken up before we do any other farm work in the 
soil. All that has been said about preparation and 
culture include the idea of the busy plow. Plows 
are made to do different kinds of work. They may 
be found of every sort and shape, from the forked 
stick to the sulky cultivator. The idea is power in 
front, a man behind, and a tool for tearing the soil 
between. The ancients used a wooden fork with a 
tip of iron on it. Such plows are still in use among 
uncivilized nations. Sometimes this rude machine 
is pulled by man power. In many countries oxen 
are used. The mule is in the majority, but in 
many places steam engines are now used to move 
the plows. The kind of plow is a pretty fair index 
of education. 

When the object is to simply loosen the soil, 
the common rooter has been almost universally 



126 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

used. When the soil is covered with vegetable 
matter which we wish to mingle with the soil, then 
we use the turn-plow. All soils not being the same, 
the same plow does not do equally good work every- 
where. Hence, we have a variety of shapes given 
to the wing, or turning part, of the plow. Hun- 
dreds of different turn-plows have been patented. 
It would be difficult to decide between many of 
these. This is not our object. 

What we wish to insist upon is the use of a good 
plow. Much attention has been given to getting a 
plow which will do a given amount of work with 
the least draft upon the team. Plows differ greatly 
in this respect. Some force the ground apart by 
main strength. Others cut and turn it scientifically. 
Some twist the roll of sod partly over. Some turn it 
entirely upside down. Sometimes you wish to do 
one way, at other times the other way, but be sure 
to have a good plow and do one way or the other. 

Plows run all the range from the Chinaman's 
wooden stick with iron tip, to the Welchman turn- 
plow, which, by going twice around in the same fur- 
row, cuts twenty-six inches deep. Get the best one, 
two, four or six-horse plow and use it so as to get and 
keep the greatest possible depth of soil. In this 
way you pave the way for other improved imple- 
ments. 

Harrows are plows with many small blades for 
shallow work. Here again we have an almost 
endless variety. Every conceivable shape and com- 
bination has been tried, from th« woodwi boam 



FARM IMPLEMENTS liST 

with a few pegs driven in, to the steel frame and 
elastic steel teeth. Perhaps you will need several of 
these. Some to scratch, some to smooth, and some 
to cut. The object generally is to make tine the soil 
turned up by the plow. This work can not be done 
too often or too well. 

To make dust of the soil is desirable and profit- 
able. Often we need the harrow to break the crust 
and destroy weeds and grass. They are great labor- 
saving machines. They enable one man and one 
team to do the work of several. Some harrows are 
so made as to be used in covering grain, and enable 
the farmer to do this very rapidly and nicely. Some- 
times they have seeding and guano-distributing at- 
tachments. These machines do the work of several 
hands at once. Another form of them are called 
cultivators. These are constructed so as to greatly 
simplify the work of cultivating many of our crops. 

Planters have almost entirely done away with hand- 
planting. They do the work more rapidly, accurately 
and cheaply than can be done by hand. They are 
so constructed as to put seed all along in a continu- 
ous row, or drop them at any required distance in 
hills. By using different attachments, some of them 
may be made to plant almost any kind of seed. 

Manure-spreaders are so arranged that they grind 
up or tear to pieces the coarse barnyard manures and 
distribute them quite evenly over the fields. The 
work is much better done than can be done by 
hands and forks. Here, as in all good machines, 
there is a great saving in labor. 



128 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

Mowing-machines, horse -rakes, hay -tedders, 
stackers, and unloading conveniences are so well 
known and appreciated that we need only mention 
them as a part of the march of progress on the 
farm. No farmer would think of harvesting a large 
crop of hay by hand. Hay-presses make it possible 
to handle hay with great ease, and greatly reduce 
the storage-room required, but a cheap power-press 
is still much to be desired. Inventive genius has 
done wonders in solving the question of handling 
the small grains. From cutting with the hand- 
sickle, separating with the flail, or horses' feet, and 
winnowing with the wind, we have advanced until 
now the grain is cut by the self-binder and deliv- 
ered ready for the shock, or cut, threshed and sacked 
ready for the miller. These wonderful machines 
are run by self-traveling engines, propelling them- 
selves and the machinery. These are used only on 
large grain fields. Yet they are a part of the farm 
equipment possible, and affect the price of the grain 
produced. The handling of the corn crop is being 
greatly simplified. Instead of the labor of pulling 
the fodder and ears by hand, shucking and shelling 
in the same laborious way, the machine does it all 
well nigh. The stalk is cut and fed to the shredder. 
This machine takes off the ears, shells and sacks the 
grain, and shreds the stalk, shucks and blades into 
excellent hay. 

For gathering and preparing cotton for the mar- 
ket, comparatively little advance has been made. 
We still pick it by hand, and gin it with saw-gins, 



FARM IMPLEMENTS 129 

and bale it in rude packages, unwieldy and un- 
sightly. Many machines have been invented claim- 
ing to pick cotton. So far, they have failed. Efforts 
are being made to separate the lint from the seed 
without cutting, but the problem is not yet solved. 
New processes are being tried for the improvement 
of the bales. Inventive genius may yet succeed 
along these lines. As soon as the cotton leaves the 
producer's hands, all this is changed. The huge 
compress takes the bale in its embrace, and hands it 
out reduced in size. Thus the railroads and ship 
companies can carry three times as -many. The 
cost of transportation is greatly reduced. 

When we enter the cotton factory, we find ourselves 
in wonderland. Marvelous machines, that almostseem 
to think and speak, manipulate this fiber of the 
farm into a thousand useful fabrics. So we find at 
every step from the hoe -handle to the steam- 
thresher, improved machinery which enables the 
farmer to cut down his expenses, do better work, 
and run up his profits. It would be just as sensible 
to expect the traveling public to abandon the Pull- 
man sleeper for the old time lumbering coach and 
six, as to expect a farmer who understands his op- 
portunities to continue his old way of farming. 
The manufacturer could as well afford to exchange 
the spinning-jenny and power-loom for the old-time 
hand spinning-wheel and hand-shuttle loom, as the 
farmer of to-day can afford to ignore the mower and 
reaper. 

The author of this little book, in his boyhood 



130 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

days, remembers helping to build the rail-pen and 
spread the grain thereon, and blistered his hands 
beating out the grain with a hand-flail. How he 
enjoyed riding the horses around and around when 
the treading-yard supplanted the rail-pen. Then 
came the simple thresh and winnowing fan. Next, 
the traveling horse-power thresher. Then the steam- 
engine and separator. He has served his day with 
each of these. If such wonderful improvements 
have been made during one short lifetime, what 
may we not expect in the days to come. Young 
farmer, keep up with the procession. You can not 
afford to be left behind. Conservative men always 
abound. They are more numerous among farmers 
than any other profession. This grows out of our 
isolation. We must not listen to doubters and 
croakers. "Prove all things. Hold fast to that 
which is good." 

In no field of human enterprise has inventive 
genius done more in the last half century than 
in the improvement of farm implements. Use the 
best in every line. Tools left out in the sun- 
shine and rain lose, in a few years' time, more 
in value than it would cost to build a shelter. 
The wooden parts very soon begin to decay. The 
iron and steel rust, and are thus injured. The oxy- 
gen in the air is no respecter of men or tools. Its 
gnawing tooth is never idle. A little care spent in 
keeping tools of all kinds painted well, will be 
found to pay well. This is particularly true of the 
wooden parts, but often applies to the metal also. 



FARM IMPLEMENTS 131 

No skill is required in doing this kind of painting. 
The paint can be purchased ready mixed of any 
desired color. Anyone can put it on. It will pay 
to do this about once a year on tools that are much 
used. This work can be done on rainy days, or 
other odd times, without interfering with the regu- 
lar work. 

It requires more human strength and animal 
power to do sorry work with a sorry tool, than 
it does to do good work with a good tool. We do 
not advise buying everything new that is offered, 
but when a tool has been tried and proven to do 
more work or better work, or both, if the price is 
reasonable, you want that tool. Always require a 
guarantee that the machine will do what it claims 
to do. The market is all the time full stocked with 
failures and humbugs. Farmers have caught their 
full share of these bugs. 

In buying new and improved implements, we 
must always have due regard to the intelligence of 
the laborer who is to use them. An edged tool in 
the hands of a fool is often a dangerous thing. This 
consideration again emphasizes the need of a tech- 
nical education among farmers. An educated brain 
is a power. A trained hand is valuable. Unite 
both of these in one man, and you have the possi- 
bilities of doing wonders. In such cases the brain 
gives increased utility to the machine, and the 
machine gives increased capacity to the brain. 
Machinery does not require feeding or clothing, 



182 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

hence it is generally more economical than hand la- 
bor. If kept in order and properly handled, it never 
makes mistakes. 

Another line of farm implements consists of plow, 
wagon and machine harness. Much of the eflSciency 
of the teams and hands often depends upon the 
quality and condition of the harness. Many of the 
costly mishaps can be traced to worn-out, broken 
harness. Oil is cheap, and if well used, will greatly 
increase the length of time harness will wear. A 
few simple tools, a good piece of tough leather, and 
a few copper rivets and loose links will save many 
times their cost. 

*' Everything in its place and a place for every- 
thing," is a maxim of great value when applied to 
farm tools of all kinds. Order in this department 
will help in every stage of farm work. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What is the most important tool? 2. What is a plow? 
3. What power is used? 4. What kind of plow is best? 5. Is 
any style equally go©d everywhere? 6. What has demanded at- 
tention? 7. What range do plows take? 8. What should we 
do? 9. What is a harrow? 10. Have we many kinds? 11. 
What do we need? 12. Do they save labor? 13. What com- 
binations are made? 14. How is planting mostly done? 15. 
What are manure-spreaders? 16. What other machines are 
named? 17. What is needed? 18. What is said of improved 
harvesters? 19. How are some of them run? 20. How is corn 
handled? 21. How is cotton gathered? 22. Is there itill 
room for improvement? 23. How after it leaves the farm? 
24. What can the farmer now do? 25. Will the old way do? 
26. Would it do for manufacturers? 27. How was grain 



FARM IMPLEMENTS 133 

cleaned? 28. Shall we expect more progress? 29. What pre- 
vails among farmers? 30. What should they do? 31. How 
should tools be cared for? 32. Should paint be used? 33. 
Why? 34. What requires most labor? 35. What is advisable? 
36. What must be considered? 37. What does this emphasize? 
38. Why is machine labor cheaper? 39. What else helps? 
40. What is a good motto here? 



134 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XXIV. 




HIS chapter will treat of the aniamls 
needed to keep the farm-work done. It 
'"'^''''''^ ig not intended to discuss growing ani- 
mals as an industry or for sale for profits. Every 
farmer must have and use some animal power in 
the work of the farm. Human strength is inade- 
quate to do this. The soil is compact. Force is 
needed to tear it loose and break it up. Animals 
are needed for this work. The time may come 
when steam or electricity may do much of this. 
With us the mule is the chief motive power of the 
farm. He is healthy, easily kept, strong and gener- 
ally a steady reliable animal. There is a fitness of 
things between the mule and the negro. The ad 
justment seems complete. The negro is always 
happy riding or driving his mule. The mule can 
do much more work upon the same quantity of food 
than the horse. He does not require so much at- 
tention. He has some ways that are peculiar. The 



FARM ANIMALS 136 

position and movent '^nts of his heels are very uncer- 
tain, and will always bear watching. If he does 
not like you upon his back you are not apt to stay 
there, nor to select your way of going. The chief 
recommendation for the mule is his power to stand 
rough usage. 

The annual outgo of money from the South for 
mules is very heavy. Atlanta is said to be the sec- 
ond largest mule market in the United States. This 
is not a necessary expense. It is the result of bad 
habits and erroneous teaching. The mule grows as 
well in Georgia as in Kentucky. When we gave all 
of our time and thought and land to cotton, we did 
not have the grass to make mule-raising profitable. 
Cotton is no longer worthy of all of our attention. 
We can now grow grass as cheaply and abundantly as 
any section of the country. With our Bermuda 
grass, we have extra facilities for stock-raising of all 
kinds. When two years old the mule is ready to 
begin work. With proper arrangements, twenty- 
five dollars will cover all expenses for these two 
years. A well-grown two-year-old mule sells for 
anywhere from sixty-five dollars to one hundred 
and twenty-five dollars. Let us break off the old 
habit of buying everything, and raise our own sup- 
ply of mules. 

Horses are preferred for some work. They are more 
pleasant for road purposes. As nearly every family 
wish to enjoy church-going privileges and such like, 
many keep horses and mules. What we have said 
about raising our own mules is largely true of horses. 



136 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

Horses are not ready for use so early, and are not 
so tough as mules, hence they cost more — about 
twice as much. Georgia-raised horses are better in 
many respects than those brought from north of us. 
They are liable to several diseases and require close 
and intelligent attention. Yet, with all these draw- 
backs, we can raise much cheaper than we can buy. 
There is one style of horse very much needed and 
not often found. The all-round farm-horse. A horse 
with fair speed upon the road, good pulling qualities 
in the wagon, and easily kept in fair condition. He 
should be intelligent, docile, and durable. A plow- 
horse, a wagon-horse, a harness-horse for family use, 
and withal fairly good under the saddle, is a rare 
combination. But he is needed, and the breeder 
who produces him will make a fortune and bless 
mankind. Too much attention has been given to 
the development of speed alone. Speed is a good 
quality, but not the only one needed. Farmers 
should have fine blooded brood-mares, and then 
give close attention to the sires. Almost any de- 
sired result may be reached by patient study and 
care. No good farmer should be satisfied with 
scrubs. The Southern crab-grass has no equal as a 
food for colts. Our climate is all that can be de- 
sired. Nothing will so attach your boy to the farm 
as a fine young horse of his own raising. But power 
is not all we need upon the farm. Food other than 
vegetables must be provided. The cow comes to our 
rescue and offers us a wide range of delicacies as 
well as substantials. 



FARM ANIMALS 137 

There are no substitutes for good fat beef, raised 
and killed at home. No shipped Western beef, 
however well prepared it is, equals the farmer's 
fatted calf. 

A few neighbors can provide each a few beeves 
and form a little club, and so arrange as to enjoy 
such a luxury in this line as no city man can buy. 
There are some things money can not buy, and this 
is one of them. There is no substitute for milk, un- 
less it is more milk. Sweet milk not skimmed or 
watered, and butter-milk fresh from the spring- 
house are at once the essentials and luxuries of life. 

The butter, one of the articles of almost universal 
use, is another luxury that every farmer can en- 
joy. Fresh from the churn, spread upon a hot 
corn hoe-cake, or upon a well-baked sweet potato, 
or upon a fat barbecued hen, would tempt the appe- 
tite of a sick man and make many sick men well. 

Cheese made from the milk, with or without the 
cream, forms another great article of human food 
and commerce. So the gentle cow gives us almost 
all the food needed for health and strength. 

The patient ox must not be left out of this list. 
He pulls anything, whether it be a plow or a 
stump-puller, or a loaded wagon or a steam-engine. 
Strong, sturdy, patient, reliable, slow but sure, he is 
an important annex to the motive power of the 
farm. The great prophet of Israel, when called to 
teach mankind through all the ages, was plowing 
with "Twelve yoke of oxen and he with the twelvth." 
Guess that plow was doing some pretty good work. 



138 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

We have already spoken of the value of the cow 
as a manure producer. This is no small point in 
her value. It is almost impossible to make a farm 
rich without her. We need many more of them on 
our Southern farms. And when at last her race is 
run, and her earthly work seems well done, her hide 
enters into new channels of utility, and furnishes us 
with one of the most needed articles for our comfort 
and health. 

The shoe and leather market could not go on with- 
out the cow. Her hoofs and horns and bones are 
gathered and after making scores of useful articles 
of necessity and luxury, the residue and waste are 
made into the most valuable of all commercial fertil- 
izers. We can not even bid her farewell here, for 
even the very hairs upon her back are numbered 
for some useful work. Verily with her everything 
is gathered up and nothing wasted. Let us take otf 
our hats to that wonderful cow. Shall we suffer her 
to take the snow and sleet and shiver in the winter's 
chilling blasts? In many countries, she finds a room 
in the family dwelling. She should be shielded from 
the storm and shaded from the summer sun. Well 
fed, and cared for kindly, she yields more for the 
family comfort than any other animal. 

The hog is another useful farm animal. One of 
the indispensables of our Gentile civilization. He 
is valued almost entirely for food. By good atten- 
tion, he will be ready for market at about one year 
old. The Western farmer finds a good profit in 
feeding his cheap corn to hogs rather than in selling 



FAKM ANIMALS 139 

the corn. Southern farmers have been largely in 
the habit of buying hog products. The Southern 
farm laborer requires hog meat. The Southern 
farmer should grow his own hogs. During the re- 
construction period, hog thieves were so numerous 
that it was unprofitable to kei p hogs. But law and 
order are better observed now, and we should at 
once return to a business so profitable. Very little 
care is needed. Provide a pasture with water. 
Plant ground-peas and cow-peas, chufas, and clover, 
sorghum, and potatoes, and hogs can be fed very 
cheaply. We can no longer afford to buy our bacon 
and lard. There are many breeds of hogs. Each 
breeder claims to have the best. Some have one 
good quality, others another, experience alone 
can decide. 

The required points for a good farm hog are 
about these: A disposition to take on fat at an 
early age, rapid growth, early maturity, and good 
health. Mixed breeds are often better than any 
pure breed for ordinary farm purposes. Hogs should 
be well fed from the start. The first three months 
are very important. They should be kept free 
from vermin. Coal oil will do this. The food 
should be changed to prevent cholera. Turnips 
seem to have great value in making them healthy, 
and preventing cholera. Hogs can survive almost 
any amount of neglect and bad treatment, but they 
pay well for good keeping and comfortable quar- 
ters. The droppings are very rich in plant-food, 
and well worth looking after. 



110 A(iU10UI/niHE FOK lilK OOMMON SCHOOLS 

SluKij) uro tiasily kdpl., and pay woll <ni Soutluuii 
faniiH. 'PluMo is but oim drawback to Hlioop-grow- 
in^". Do^s ar«i voiy fond ol' (luiir ))l()()d, and (IcHtroy 
Ko many that Cow farmers vnw to try to koop Hhucp. 
NumorouH oH\)rtH havci hcon mado to f>ot a law 
paased by our leginlators that would abate this 
nuisance. When this ia done, wo oxpeet to see 
sluH'p u)ton nearly every farm. Thoy incroasci rap- 
idly, re(]uiro but little food or .siioltor, and pay well 
either in wool-prowin^' or mutton. Year-old lambs 
sell readily for double the coist of keei)ing. A <j^ood 
clip of wool will bring almowt as nuieh an the Hock 
is worth. Scarcely any other farm industry will 
pay so large a |)cr cent, of profit. y\ll that is needed 
is ])asturago for summer, and in winter a cheap 
shelter and a few cotton seed and salt. 

It'ow Is of different kinds, sueli as ehickiins, turkeys, 
geese and ducks need scarcely be mentioned as ])art 
of the e(piipment of the farm. Almost every farmer 
keeps one or moi-e of these. They furnish such 
timely hi^ip to the housekeeper's department. I'^^ggs 
and spring fryers are pri/^nl very highly by every 
family. The farmer scarcely misses the food needed 
to kiic\) up the jioultry. Tlu\y pick up the waste 
around the house and the cow-lols, aiul devour mil- 
lions of eggs and young of hurtful insects and worms. 
One point deserves mention here. There is great 
dillerence in the breeds of (diickens. A worthless 
chicken will eat about as much as the best. Some 
breeds excel in laying qualities, others as mothers, 
:inil others as th^sh-prochu'crs for t.lu^ tabUv Some 



KAftM ANIMAI.S 141 

have a combination of these qualities. For the 
poultry-breeder, one chicken might be preferred, 
while for a common farm another might be better. 
Without advertising anybody's stock, we feel free to 
say that for the average farm, the Plymouth Rocks, 
pure or mixed with many of our common farm 
chickens, are the chickens best suited to our pur- 
pose. But however you may settle this question, 
there is one point you can not afford to neglect. 
Clean roosts, and a bountiful supply of pure water 
are essential to the health of any breed. Chickens 
are larger than mites but mites are more numerous, 
unless the roosts are clean. Impure water is gen- 
erally the cause of cholera. 

We have not in this chapter tried to treat ex- 
haustingly of any of the farm animals. Either one 
of these is a good industry itself. Here we have 
spoken of them as giving variety to the farm pro- 
ductions. Any one or all of the above mentioned 
may be successfully grown as side helps upon any 
well regulated variety farm. They are helps to each 
other, and by decreasing the expense and increasing 
the income, they make a clear profit, where other- 
wise they would be a clear loss. 

They enable the farmer to turn into cash the sur- 
plus hay and corn which would not find a profit- 
able market, and the grass and weeds. More than 
this, attention to these may occupy what would 
otherwise be idle hours, and bring in money all 
along as the family expenses call for it. The South- 
ern farmer has been dependent upon a crop which 



142 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

brings in cash only once per year. Hence he has 
fallen into the habit of buying on a credit to be paid 
when this cash comes in. No figures can properly 
show the evils and losses of this credit system. It 
has robbed us of our manhood and our self-respect. 

At the same time it has taken all the profits out of 
our business and made us poor. We must break 
loose from the tyrant debt or we can never prosper. 
Proper diversity in our farming can and will do 
this. Grow farm animals of as many kinds as you 
can, and in this way keep at home the money which 
has heretofore left us in a steady stream, to pay for 
mules, horses, and cow products. Then when our 
cotton crop becomes in reality a money crop, we 
will prosper. 

This is the way out of the wilderness. This is 
the road to success. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What do we study here? 2. What moves the plow? 3. 
What is the most used? 4. What 'are his drawbacks? 5. How 
do we get mules? 6. Is this necessary? 7. What must go be- 
fore stock-raising? 8. Can mules be raised cheaper? 9. Are 
horses desirable? 10. Can we furnish our own? 11. What 
style of horse is needed? 12. Is speed the chief quality? 13. 
What ought we to do? 14. Have we the grass? 15. What do 
cows furnish? 16. How may we have good beef? 17. What 
about milk? 18. What about butter? 19. What about cheese? 
20. What is said of oxen? 21. How else does the cow help the 
farm? 22. What uses are made of her body? 23. What of h©r 
hoofs, horns and hair? 24. Should we care for her.? 25. What 
are the value of hogs? 26. Should we buy or grow them ? 27. 
Why did we quit? 28. How should we proceed now? 29. 
What breeds and qualities do we need? 30. How should they 
be treated? 31. Does good care pay ? 32. Is manure valuable? 



FARM ANIMALS 143 

33. Can we grow sheep? 34. Why so few? 35. Are they 
profitable? 36. Can we raise poultry ? 37. "Will chickens pay? 
38. Are they expensive? 39. What about breeds? 40. Which 
suits the farm? 41. What must be provided? 42. What have 
we tried to show in this chapter? 43. What do these farm ani- 
mals do? 44. What more? 45. What has credit done? 46. 
How can we get rid of it? 



144 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XXV. 




CULTU 



Ml' — 




lAKE away the native forests and the 
grass begins to grow. The seed seem to 
be everywhere. In many places where 
fire or other causes has destroyed the small trees, 
we find grass growing abundantly. Among the 
pines a tough wiregrass grows. If we cultivate a 
field until by washing and leaching we bring it to 
a state of exhaustion, and then cease to work it, 
grass soon covers its nakedness, and clothes it in 
verdure anew. Very many varieties of grass will 
grow without cultivation or care. Such is the dis- 
position of the soil to grow grass that it is very dif- 
ficult to keep it from injuring our crops. We con- 
stantly labor and toil to kill the grass in our fields, 
so that the crops may have a fair chance. From 
this cause, we have learned to look upon grass as an 
enemy to the farmer. We spend our main energy 
upon clean, cultured crops, such as corn and cotton. 
It will require some time and effort to bring our- 



GRASS CULTURE 145 

selves to look upon grass as one of our best friends. 
The idea of growing grass as a crop seems strange 
to many cotton-farmers. To cease to destroy, and to 
begin to cultivate grass for money-making, is a 
revolution, but this is just what we should do. We 
are trying to make money by farming. If there is 
more money in growing grass than growing cotton, 
we had best grow grass. If we take ten acres of 
average land, and prepare it for cotton, buy the 
usual quantity of fertilizers, cultivate, gather and 
sell the cotton, we will find that we have spent 
about eleven dollars per acre, or one hundred and 
ten dollars. The average yield is one bale of five 
hundred pounds for three acres. So we will have 
three and one-third bales worth, at five cents, eighty- 
three dollars and thirty-three cents. This leaves us 
with a clear loss of about twenty-six dollars. If we 
do better than the average and get a bale to every 
two acres, we will have five bales, worth one hundred 
and twenty-five dollars. In this case we have an 
apparent profit of fifteen dollars, but the extra pick- 
ing and ginning usually consume this. 

If we take the same ten acres and prepare it well, 
and let grass — common crab-grass — grow upon it, 
we will have an expense of about forty dollars. 
This will yield, at a low estimate, two tons per acre, 
or twenty tons, worth at least ten dollars per ton, 
giving us two hundred dollars. Here we have a 
margin of one hundred and sixty dollars for profits. 
This may seem too high an estimate on the hay. 



H6 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

but we have actual figures taken from experience 
more favorable. 

There are other points in this case. The cotton 
required twelve months time and attention. This 
gives us about one crop for a year. The hay will 
grow in about four months, and leave you six 
months to devote to something else, and you can 
get a crop of small grain on the same land in the 
same year. This is only the native crab-grass. There 
are other grasses that will perhaps do better. Sev- 
eral of them will yield larger crops. Some of them 
will cost more to seed. 

Clover has been known to yield as much as six tons 
per acre during a season, giving three cuttings. To 
grow clover the land should be well prepared in Sep- 
tember. After harrowing soil very fine, sow one peck 
of seed per acre. If thrown upward, they will fall 
deep enough into very loose soil. Some prefer to 
sow wheat or fall oats, and sow clover-seed on after. 
The grain should be rather thin. Cut clover when 
the seed have formed, but before they ripen. If a 
top-dressing of land-plaster is put on after each cut- 
ting, the yield will be very largely increased. Some 
prefer to graze after the first cutting. If not grazed 
too closely, clover will continue to do well for three 
years. Properly cured, it is very fine hay. Cut 
after the dew is off". Rake into windrows next day, 
and put up in heaps the next day. Much will de- 
pend upon the weather as when to haul in. 

But the grass which suits the South is Bermuda. 
Once set, it lives on and on. To get a good stand 



GRASS CULTURE 147 

promptly, plow land well and run furrows two feet 
apart. Get the Bermuda roots cut up with an ordi- 
nary cutting-knife, drop every two feet in the fur- 
rows and cover lightly. Do this work in April. If 
you wish it for hay, roll the land smooth. Ber- 
muda will get root and grow in almost any kind of 
soil. Manure of almost any kind will pay a profit 
on Bermuda. Cut as soon as the seed forms appear. 
Bermuda does not mature seed, but it prepares for 
that purpose. The hay is easily cured, and not apt 
to mould, if cut after the dew is off. The yield will 
depend very much upon the soil and manure. On 
good land, six tons may be expected. 

It is slow to get thoroughly set on poor land, and 
does not like shade. Weeds and other grasses 
choke it down for a few years, but it is persistent 
and conquers in the end. It is very tough and re- 
sists all kinds of bad treatment, but will show its 
appreciation of good treatment very quickly. 

In pasture where the soil gets packed, it is well 
to run a subsoil plow under it once in three or four 
years, or break it up and roll it down again. Where 
kept for mowing this sort of work pays well. 

Experiments seem to show that an acre of land 
well treated will furnish enough food for one cow 
each year. So many farmers have been afraid of 
Bermuda that it has had to fight its way into favor 
Hence, not many of us know what it will do, ex- 
cept what we have seen it do against all kinds of 
efforts to get rid of it, ^''ery few have even tried 
to see what it would do when cultivated and 



148 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

manured. It will grow well in a gully, and at once 
stops all washing. It will grow on poor land and 
soon make it rich. It will flourish on rich land and 
yield enormously. On bottom land it seems to be 
at its best, as it rejoices in plenty of water. 

Frost only seems to take away its green color and 
part of its water. It is excellent food after the frost 
has killed it. Analysis shows it to be equal to the best 
hays. All kinds of stock are fond of it. Horses 
have plowed all the summer without other food. 
Plow all day and turn on the Bermuda pasture at 
night. Cows make good beef, and give a fine flow of 
milk, and good butter-yields on Bermuda grass. 
Hogs, if kept from rooting by rings in their noses, keep 
fat upon it. Chickens are very fond of it. It is 
fine for yards and lots. Some are doubtful about 
it, fearing they can not get rid of it. It is shallow- 
growing and can not stand hard freezing, so use 
two-horse plow, harrow in December and January, 
and it is easily destroyed. 

It does not seem to interfere much with the 
growth of other plants, unless it forms a solid mat. 
So if you keep stirring the land, other crops do well 
even where the Bermuda is not destroyed. This 
grass seems to have been sent by Providence to re- 
store the wreck and ruin brought upon Southern 
farms by bad management. It is certainly a "re- 
storer of the waste places." 

Johnson grass grows vigorously and produces 
large crops of excellent hay. The grass should be 
cut before seeding. It is then tender and easily 



GRASS CULTURE 149 

digested. If cut at this stage it will produce an- 
other crop in a short time. If the season is rainy, 
it can be cut four times. This grass spreads from 
roots and from seed. Hence, it spreads very rapidly. 
The growth is vigorous, and the roots are strong. 
With small plows it seems to be only cultivated in- 
stead of destroyed. For this reason many dread it 
as a pest, and try to get rid of it. The roots are 
like cane with very short joints. The stems shoot 
up from these joints. If cut in pieces each joint 
may form a new center for spreading. If small 
plows are used, and the grass permitted to produce 
seed, the spreading will be very rapid, and the 
yield of food very great. 

From the nature of this grass, we see two ways of 
destroying it when it is not wanted. If closely pas- 
tured, it can produce no new seeds, and the roots 
being called upon to furnish food to the new growth 
at the stem continuously, cease to spread. If this 
call is continued the second year, they become ex- 
hausted and begin to perish. Continuous pasturing 
will destroy it. The roots grow rather deep. In try- 
ing to destroy it by cultivation, we must plow below 
these. Good two-horse turners, rapid harrowing, 
and clean culture will get rid of it quite rapidly. 
Turning up in fall, and winter harrowing hastens 
this, because the roots are easily frozen. Experience 
has shown that either of these methods will destroy 
Johnson grass. 

The prejudice against this grass is not well founded. 
It has grown out of our bad management. The 



150 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

hay has not been properly valued, because we have 
neglected to cut it before it heads. After heading, 
the stems quickly become woody and make poor 
hay. Shallow plowing has spread it M^hen it was 
not wanted. Its strong growth interferes with other 
plants. So it has become unpopular from the very 
qualities which should recommend it to our favor. 
A few acres of land well set in Johnson grass, and 
well cared for, will yield a profit equal, if not 
greater, than any other crop. 

Prof. Sessions found one hundred and seventy varie- 
ties of grass that would grow in Georgia. He thinks sev- 
enty of these would grow profitably. Of course, we can 
not discuss all of these or any considerable part here. 
Our object is to show that grass-culture may be 
profitable in the South. That it is not necessary to 
continue to buy hay. That we can grow all the hay 
we need in Georgia and other Southern States. That 
we can and should grow hay to sell. If we grow 
hay there will be a market for it, is proved by the 
fact that we are now buying thousands of tons 
every year. Our soil and climate and water-supply 
make it practicable for us to grow as good hay as 
we buy, and grow it at less cost that those we are 
now buying from. When we grow more hay than 
we have a market for, we can feed the surplus to 
cattle and find a profit in that way. 

Perhaps we have left out one of the very best hay 
crops of the South. The cowpea is sometimes called 
the clover of the South. This plant not only produces 
very large yields of the very best quality of ha}', but 



GRASS CULTURE 151 

enriches the soil that grows the crop. Peas can be 
planted either as an independent crop, grown with 
corn, or planted after harvest in the grain fields. 
In either case they can be made to yield a double 
crop. The peas can be picked or not. Of course, the 
hay will be richer food if the peas are left on the 
vines. Peas may be planted in hills, drills, or 
broadcast, as is most convenient. 

Curing the vines for hay is somewhat difficult. 
They contain so much water and nitrogen, they 
are apt to mould. Cut when dew is off. Next 
day throw them into small heaps. After two days 
throw several of these small heaps into one. Two 
or more days after, according to the weather, they 
may be housed. If you have grain straw, it will be 
well to mix in about equal quantities with pea- 
vines. This will insure the keeping of the pea-vines, 
and the straw will be greatly improved for food. 
Some prefer to plant poles in the fields with the 
limbs left on them, and stack the vines upon these 
until they are thoroughly dry. There are so many 
methods used that every man can and must decide 
for himself. 

The pea-vine hay is as good as any, and is rel- 
ished by all farm animals. Where we wish to grow 
grass for home consumption, we find a still more 
profitable field for investment. The cattle can save 
us the expense of cutting, housing and feeding. 
They will gladly gather their own food. While 
getting it, they Avill be getting health, and making 
flesh, milk, butter, and so on, for our profit, ^''cry 



152 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

many of our fields would yield a larger income in 
pasture than in cultivation. This is true of about 
one-half of Georgia. But cattle must eat in winter 
as well as summer, and we are not supplied with 
winter-growing grasses in sufficient quantity. 

The silo comes to our rescue. Here we can store 
away vast quantities of green food ready for winter 
use. We have been considering the silo as a storage 
for green corn only. This is a mistake. Very many 
food-plants may be put into the silo. Pea-vines are 
peculiarly adapted to this use, but if we confine it 
to corn, this is itself a grass, and makes the best of 
grass and dry hay. Fill the silo with green food is 
the idea. 

It would not be proper to close this chapter with- 
out calling attention to the numerous millets. The 
German, Hungarian, cat-tail, and the sorghums are 
among the indispensables upon a well-conducted 
farm. They are all grasses, and very valuable as 
food for stock. Chufas, ground-peas, soja, velvet, 
and other beans are valuable adjuncts. 

Let us cease killing ourselves, killing grass to 
grow cotton to sell at less than cost to buy shipped 
dead grass with, and begin a new era of prosperity 
by growing grass to grow cattle. In this way, we 
will clothe the land with living green and fill the 
land with growing food. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. Where do we find grass? 2. What happens to worn 
fields? 3. How do we look upon grass, and why? 4. What 
will require effort? 5. Should we do this? 6. What will ten 



GRASS CULTURE 1.53 

acres in cotton cost? 7. What will it pay on the average? 8. If 
we get half a bale? 9. What will it cost in grass? 10. What 
will it pay? 11. What about the time? 12, Will other grasses 
do aswell as crab-grass? 13. How should clover be sown? 14. 
When and how often cut? 15. How cured? 16. How do we 
plant Bermuda? 17. How cultivate and save hay? 18. Does 
it spread rapidly? 19. What will help the pasture? 20. Why 
have we been slow to value it? 21. How and where will it 
grow and yield? 22. Does frost ruin it? 23. How does it 
rank as hay? 24. How as pasture? 25. How can it be de- 
stroyed? 26. How does it affect other crops? 27. What seems 
to be its mission? 28. What is said of Johnson grass? 29. 
Why is it dreaded? 30. How can it be destroyed? 31. Should 
we be prejudiced against it? 32. Can it be made to pay? 33. 
How many grasses have we? 34. What is ourobject here? 35. 
Is there money in hay? 36. How shall we get a market? 37. 
What can we do with the surplus? 38. What of peas as a hay 
crop? 39. How can we plant peas? 40. How can we cure 
vines? 41. Is the hay good? 42. What pays better than hay? 
43. How would much of our land pay? 44. How can we pro- 
vide for winter? 45. What can we put in the silo? 4(5 What 
other valuable grasses can we grow? 47. What should we do? 



11 



154 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



^P^ RUCK-FARMING is a name applied to a 
^3>tK> system of farming devoted almost entirely 
to growing garden vegetables for sale. It 
is gardening on a larger scale. It is sometimes 
called market-gardening. The intense manuring 
and high culture of kitchen-garden is applied to 
larger areas. The produce is generally sold in a 
fresh condition in a near-by town or city. Rapid 
transportation and refrigerating methods have made 
it profitable to send these fresh vegetables to quite 
distant markets. The great cities of the North are 
thus supplied with the luxuries of the South early 
in the season. This has given quite a stimulus to 
truck-farming in the South. 

The tendency of salt air to keep off frosts, gives 
great advantage to the sea-coast regions. A few days 
difference in reaching the market often makes a 
great difference in the price. Every method of hasten- 
ing maturity is used among truckers. Forcing beds, 
glass houses, cold frames, heat-producing manures, 



TRUCK-FARMING 156 

and early varieties of vegetables all have a bearing 
upon the success of the gardener. Nearness to mar- 
ket, rapidity of transportation, cost of carriage, and 
facilities for keeping vegetables from withering and 
decaying, are other important points. The success- 
ful man must study all of these. 

Market gardeners find it pays them to use very 
large quantities of manure and fertilizers. They 
generally depend largely upon the cities near them 
for manure. They sometimes find it pays to haul 
this long distances if the roads are^ood. From the 
larger cities, this manure is shipped out in car or 
train loads. This is because land near these is not 
sufficient and gets to be too dear. The cost of car- 
rying manure is less than the cost of the land. 
Very highly manured land is warmer and hastens 
the maturity of vegetables. 

Another point of great importance to the truck- 
farmer is the quality of his vegetables. Sorry vege- 
tables are hard to sell, and do not bring paying 
prices. Good vegetables are always in demand and 
generally at paying prices. The market is never 
over-supplied with strictly choice articles. Please 
the eye and the palate and you will find ready sale 
and good profit. To treat of this subject in detail 
would fill a good size book. We can only touch it 
here, generally. 

But no one thing is more important to the trucker 
than deep, thorough work. He must grow large 
crops on small areas to get a profit on his high- 
priced land and heavy manuring. More than this, 



156 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

he must grow several successive crops upon the same 
area in the same season. To do these, he must 
have depth of soil, so as to furnish plenty of root- 
bed and water. He must have fine soil so that the 
tender roots may not be hindered in their growth. 
He must have it both deep and fine, so that he may 
have a full supply of soluble plant-food always 
ready. The demand will be enormous, and the sup- 
ply should be equal to every demand. 

Work must be very rapid. The soil must not be al- 
lowed to bake or crust. The sunshine must find ready 
access with plenty of air. This will have much to 
do with the quality as well as the quantity of the 
crops. No useless plants or harmful weeds should 
be permitted to divide food with the growing crop. 
Selecting a location is quite important, but rests 
upon different reasons now. Distance is not so im- 
portant as it once was. Access to a railroad is about 
the only essential point in many cases. Of course, 
what you expect to sell is always a leading point. 
Costly and perishable vegetables would require 
quick access to market. Others, which are cheaper 
and not so perishable, may be profitable further on. 

Onions, Irish potatoes, cabbages, turnips, and such 
vegetables, may be grown almost anywhere. They 
will bear shipping and keep well. Lettuce, radishes, 
peas, beans, and such will not take such risks. Two 
things should be well considered by every one be- 
fore going into the trucking business. Do you 
know how to grow good vegetables? Do you know 
how to sell vegetables? If you can answer yes to 



TRUCK-FARMING 167 

both of these, then you may safely take truck-fann- 
ing as a business. If you can not, and still think 
you would like the business, then you had better 
work for a year or so with some one who makes a 
success in this line. There will be time gained by 
doing this. 

As the population increases, this line of work 
will increase. Besides this, as we of the South 
learn to appreciate our advantages, we will do more 
of this work. Rapid transportation and cold stor- 
age are making such wonderful improvements in 
carrying, handling, and preserving vegetables and 
fruits, that distance makes but little difference. Al- 
most everything depends upon climate and intelli- 
gence. Even the most perishable article can be 
kept several days and delivered in perfect condition 
thousands of miles away. Skill and industry will 
give success almost anywhere in the South. The 
small fruits are generally considered as belonging 
to the trucker's business. We will speak of a few 
of these. 

Strawberries find ready sale everywhere. They 
contribute to the health and make one of the most 
enjoyable dishes upon the table of rich and poor. 
In many parts of the South they can be set almost 
any time of the year. June and November are per. 
hai)s the best months. The rows three feet apart and 
the plants one foot apart, gives a good start. If you 
wish the largest berries, keep them in hills. If you 
want the greatest quantity of fruit, let them mat 
about one foot on the bed, but do not 1 et them get 



158 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

too thick. Provide a new setting every third year. 
Some plants have only starninate, or male blooms. 
Not more than one row in three should be set in 
these. Some varieties have both starninate and pis- 
tillate blooms. If you buy your plants, look to 
these points. They need only fair manuring. This 
should be put in before setting plants. If more is 
desired, put on as top dressing in winter. Keep out 
weeds and grass and supply jDlenty of moisture. 
Some practice mulching with very satisfactory suc- 
cess. They do not need to be covered in the winter 
and burned off in the spring, as the Northern writers 
advise. They are shallow-rooted plants and lack of 
moisture is their greatest enemy. Plant early and 
late varieties, ship only the best berries, find a re- 
liable dealer, and you will make money with straw- 
berries. 

Raspberries grow well and sell well. A small 
plot of land will make a large quantity. Many va- 
rieties are claiming to be best. The black caps are 
very good. Plants should be set four feet apart in 
five feet rows and kept clean. The shoots grow one 
year and bear the next. The same canes never bear 
but one crop. So it is best to cut them out as soon 
as the j'^oung canes get a good start. The buds 
should be picked out when about three feet high. 
This will give them body so as to stand strong and 
branch out well . Proper attention at this point will 
largely increase the yield. 

Blackberries and dewberries require much the 
same treatment and pay equally well. Because 



TRUCK-FARMING 159 

blackberries grow so very abundantly throughout 
the South, in all the fields and along the branches, 
they have not received that attention they deserve. 
We have not found out that culture could improve 
them so much. It will be a long time before the 
market will be supplied with first-class berries. 

Currants, gooseberries, figs, and such fruits belong 
here. Melons also add to the variety of the truck- 
er's products. Recently the Georgia watermelon 
has made sucli a reputation that growing these has 
almost or quite reached the dignity of a separate 
industry. These growers plant the vines ten by ten 
or twelve feet. They use fertilizers with a high 
percentage of potash. The cultivation is simple and 
easy. They grow very quick. For shipping pur- 
poses the thick rinds are preferred. They are not 
generally as well flavored as the thin rind varieties. 
Many growers prefer to sell in the fields or in car- 
lots loaded at their nearest station. There is noth- 
ing the trucker grows which surpasses in delicacy 
and flavor the canteloupe. The genuine article, 
medium in size, thoroughly netted, tender fleshed, 
always finds ready sale. Great care is required to 
keep seed pure. They mix easily with other musk- 
melons. 

The soil should be well pulverized, not very rich, 
and lay to the morning sun. Bed should be thrown 
up lightly six or eight feet wide. Plant one vine 
every four feet. Watch for lady bugs, and work 
rapidly. The worms are apt to destroy all late 
c rops. 



160 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

Enormous yields are produced by truckers on 
small areas, and immense fortunes are sometimes 
realized. There is a small farm near Paris, which is 
reported as follows : 

"This farm contains two and a quarter acres. 
Rents annually for - - - | 500.00 

Labor account 5,000.00 

Interest on the capital - - 750.00 

Account for horse power - - 500.00 

Sundries 250.00 

Manures 1,500.00 



Total amount expended - 8,500.00 

By proceeds of sales - - - 13,640.00 



Annual profits - - - - 5,040.00 

We find here two valuable lessons. The enor- 
mous productive power of the soil, and the fact that 
great profits may be made by skill and industry, 
growing successive crops upon the same soil. Here 
we find men with nerve enough to invest eight 
thousand five hundred dollars in a two and a quar- 
ter acre farm, while many hesitate to risk fifty dol- 
lars per acre. They nearly doubled their invest- 
ment. This is a very extreme case, but extreme 
cases are instructive. If this has been done, we may 
do partly as well. 

He who grows what every one needs 
Will find a market for food and seeds. 



TRUCK-FARMING 161 

QUESTIONS. 
1. What is truck-farming? 2. How is the produce sold? 3. 
What points help to success ? 4. What pays in manuring ? 5. 
How is it sometimes carried and why ? 6. What other impor- 
tant point? 7. What must be his soil's condition? 8. Why 
should he work rapidly ? 9. What location is best? 10. What 
should help to divide? 11. What two things should be con- 
sidered? 12. What points favor this work in the South? 13. 
On what does success depend? 14. How should strawberries 
be grown? 15. Should we be careful about sex? 16. Give 
further points. 17. Describe raspberry culture. 18. What 
other berries would pay ? 19. What is said of melon culture ? 
20. Tell of the little Paris farm. 21 . The conclusion. 



162 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



lUIW rARMING j^f 50ut,^ 




XM 



HE cow and her product represent a capital 
larger than all the national banks com- 
bined. Cotton, wheat, and corn are each 
large and important branches of our national in- 
dustry, but neither of these are equal in volume 
and importance to the cow and her products. She 
contributes to the necessities and comforts of the 
people in so many ways that everyone is interested 
in her in some way. In this chapter we will con- 
sider the relation of dairying to Southern farming. 
For various reasons this branch of farming has here- 
tofore received very little attention. Our people are 
more educated into the custom and belief that ours 
was not a dairying section. That we must buy our 
cheese and fine butter from more favored sections. 
We were so engrossed in producing cotton that we 
did not think it worth while to consider whether we 
could succeed in any other business. We had be- 



DAIRY-FAKMING IN THE SOUTH 163 

come so accustomed to spending our energy killing 
grass, that we did not stop to think whether or not 
grass was useful. We were taught to believe that 
our climate was not suited to growing grass, and 
cows, and making cheese and butter, but we are 
awakening from our dream, and beginning to find 
out our mistake. 

Trial proves that the South is as well suited to 
grow grass as any section of our great country. 
Upon this discovery rests much of the promise 
of dairy development. Experience also proves that 
not only grass, but cows flourish as well in the 
South as in any place. This is true not only of 
our native cattle, often called ''scrubs," but of all 
the finer breeds. Indeed, it is beginning to look 
like the Jerseys and some other high-breed strains 
do better here than north of us. This is a great 
step forward. It is also found to be true that grades 
from our native "scrubs" make very fine milkers 
and butter producers. Many claim that the three- 
fourth and seven-eighth grades are better than the 
thoroughbred cows. They certainly make excellent 
dairy cows. 

The next question was whether we could make 
butter and cheese which would stand the test of 
comparison with the same articles made in Ohio, 
New York and the Northwest. To our surprise, 
experience shows that we can. This question has 
been settled in our favor in the great cheese and 
butter fairs of the North. The South has been 
the market which has enriched the Northern dairy- 



164 AGBICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

men. We have bought largely of their cheese and 
butter, aud even of their cream. We annually pay 
out millions of dollars for these articles of Northern 
production. It is no longer necessary to do this. 
We can supply our own products in their room, and 
save all this money at home. 

Not only is this true, but our soil })roduces grass so 
abundantly and cheaply, and our climate is so favora- 
ble to the health of the cows, that cheese and butter of 
the finest quality can be made cheaper here than else- 
where. We can supply our own demand at a fine 
profit, and compete successfully with other sections 
in the markets of the world. The very thing which 
was thought to be against us, is found to be in our 
favor. Our mild climate enables us to keep cows 
at a less expense, and at the same time, improve the 
quality of our milk. Having better milk and bet- 
ter climate, we can make better goods at less cost. 
Hence, we have every encouragement to enter vig- 
orously the inviting field of dairy-farming. The 
soil of the Sunny South, the sunshine and mild 
winters, the near and ready market, and our un- 
equaled water supply, all invite us into this line of 
industry. 

By dairy-farming, we mean keeping cows and 
selling the milk, butter, and cheese as a means of 
living and making money. To do this successfully 
requires a little more intelligence than to grow cot- 
ton. The dairyman needs a little special education 
suited to this particular business. This he can 
easily get at any of our Agricultural and Mechani 



DAIRY-FARMING IN THE SOUTH 165 

cal colleges, or at our experiment stations. To this 
he can add valuable information by reading a good 
dairy paper. 

Perhaps the first question will be, where shall I 
locate ? Various considerations enter into the set- 
tlement of this point. If you desire to sell milk 
chiefly, then you wish to get in reach of some town 
or city. The railroads are now offering such low 
rates and other accommodations in carrying milk, 
that this question is much easier settled than 
formerly. 

Twenty or forty miles with an early morning 
train may be just as convenient as two or four miles 
with a milk-wagon. So that nearness to a good 
railroad is often as good as nearness to a city used 
to be. The cheapness of land remote from the city 
may and often will be a controlling consideration. 
Perhaps a more important consideration should be, 
plenty of pure, clean water, and adaptability to 
produce large quantities of grass and grain. Cows 
well watered and pastured thrive and produce cheap 
milk. The water should not only be plentiful and 
pure, but readily accessible to the cows. 

Having settled the location, go to work to get 
plenty of grass growing upon your farm. More 
failures have come from neglect here than from 
every other point. Most men in the beginning are 
in a hurry to increase the number of cows. This is 
pressing at the wrong end. You need first to get 
plenty of food growing on your own farm. This you 
can easily do if you go at it right. Get Bermuda 



166 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

grass well set on good land, both for grazing and 
mowing. Get a good patch of alfalfa to growing. 
Plant a good supply of corn for the silo, and then 
use such supplementary crops as oats, pea-vines, 
rye, barley and crab-grass. You will then be ready 
for the cows. Food first, mouths afterwards, is the 
dairyman's motto. 

The next thing is the barn. In this Sunny South 
this need not be an expensive building. Comfort, 
convenience, and cleanliness are the points to be 
aimed at. There is more danger of your cow getting 
too Avarm than too cold. Give them plenty of good air, 
and room to rest when through eating. Arrange for 
easy entering and leaving, so as to avoid fighting. 
Then have a constant eye on convenience in feeding, 
milking and removing bedding. These must be done 
so often, that a little loss of time and strength each 
time, will amount to a serious loss in the long run. But 
above all things arrange for cleanliness at every 
point. Without this, it is impossible to get the best 
results. Milk readily absorbs smells and microbes. 
Once infected, it is difficult ever to remedy the evil. 
The cows must be clean, the stalls must be clean, 
the vessels must be clean, and the milker must be 
clean. Filth anywhere is dangerous. 

Barns should be so arranged that the voidings 
can be readily removed, and cheapl}^ placed upon 
the farm, where they are so much needed. The 
liquid is worth as much as the solid manure, and 
should be carefully saved. 

Thousands of experiments have been, and are 



DAIRY-FARMING IN THE SOUTH 187 

still being made, trying to settle the question of the 
best and cheapest method of feeding. These all 
lead to one general conclusion. What is called a 
balanced ration is best. This is differently given 
by different authorities, but in the main means that 
the hay food and the grain food should be fed in 
proper proportions to get the best results. A grain 
mixture of wheat bran, corn meal, and cottonseed 
meal in the ratio of: bran three, corn meal two, 
cottonseed meal four, makes nearly a perfect com- 
pound. For a cow weighing one thousand pounds, 
seven pounds of this mixture with forty pounds of 
hay is an abundant supply for one day. Lighter 
cows need less. Very many dairymen leave out the 
corn meal. Some use the cottonseed meal and hulls 
and get fair results, but it is difficult to find any 
substitute for wheat bran, or to get best results 
without it. 

Silage is better than hay, simply because it is 
more digestible. Whether a silo will pay you is a 
question to be decided by local surroundings, dis- 
tance of hauling being an important item. Gen- 
erally they pay. Recent improvements have greatly 
changed the methods of handling dairy products. 
The Babcock test, the aerator and separator, enable 
the up-to-date dairyman to make money where the 
old methods failed. As newer and more economical 
machinery is being constantly invented, all that a 
book can safely say is that the man who keeps up will 
make money almost anywhere. 

If you handle your milk with absolute cleanli- 



168 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

ness and make butter or cheese of first quality, you 
will always find a market at good prices. 

The possibilities of dairying are greatly improved 
by the building of creameries. These enable very 
many to find a profit in keeping cows without mak- 
ing dairying their sole business. Through these, 
conducted upon the co-operative plan, very many 
farmers will find it to their interest to grow grass 
and cows instead of all cotton. The United States 
statistics show that we can grow grass cheaper in 
the South than in the North. Hence, we can keep 
cows cheaper, and produce milk and butter and 
cheese cheaper. Dairying in the South has a bright 
prospect before it. 

Our young men will find it more certain, pleasant 
and profitable than thousands of the city occupations. 
" Young man, go to the dairy-farm" should be sub- 
stituted for "Young man, go West." You need not 
go West. Right hero you can find home, comfort, 
happiness, and prosperity, if you will rub up your 
brains a little, get a few cows, and settle down upon 
a dairy-farm, and invite some sensible Southern girl 
to preside over your household affairs and help you 
run a dairy. There is money in grass. There is money 
in cows. There is money in turning grass into 
cows. There is money in turning grass and cows 
into milk, butter and cheese. The cow products 
hold up in prices when everything else goes down. 
Milk, butter, and cheese are worth about the same 
they were when cotton was twenty cents a pound. 
If the article is good, the market is ready for it. 



DAIRY-FARMING IN THE SOUTH 169 

What breed is best? If you wish milk, the Hol- 
stein is the cow. If you wish butter and cream, 
the Jersey. If you wish all of these, then high- 
grade Jerseys, and Holsteins will serve your purpose. 

QUESTIONS. 
1. What is the value of the cow and her products? 2. How 
has dairy-farming been looked upon? 3. Why? 4. What 
were we taught? 5. What do we now find true? 6. What 
else? 7. Can we make high-grade butter and cheese? 8. Shall 
we continue to buy these? 9. What else may we do? 10, 
What of our climate? 11. To what are we invited? 12. What 
is dairy-farming? 13. What do we need to succeed? 14. What 
is said about location? 15. What is more important than dis- 
tance? 16. What is first to be done? 17. How? 18. What 
should be the dairyman's motto? 19. What should guide in 
building the barn? 20. Which is the most important of the 
three? 21. What should be done with manure? 22. What 
next claims attention? 23. What makes a good ration? 24. 
How much a day of this? 25. What about silo and silage? 
26. What about handling milk? 27. When is our market sure? 
28. What about creameries? 29. What do the United States 
statistics show? 30. Where should our young men go? 31. 
What should they do? 32. There is money in what? 33. Do 
cow products fall in price? 34. What cows are best? 



u 



170 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 





I E have spoken of difFeren t kinds of animals 
grown upon the farm for farm uses. We 
wish here to speak of growing one, or sev- 
eral of them, as a special business. Stock farms may, 
and often do, grow grain and grass as feed for the 
stock, but the money is expected to come in from 
the sale of the animals. Stock farms may be de- 
voted to growing only one line. Thus one farm 
grows horses, another mules, another cows, another 
sheep, and another hogs. Not only so, but a farm 
may be confined to one or more breeds of a single line. 
Thus we have farms which breed and develop only 
race horses, another only draught horses. One farm 
will make a specialty of Jersey cows, another of Short- 
horns, another of Holstein-Friesians, and so on. Some 
devote themselves to red Jersey hogs, some to Berk- 
shire, some to Chester White, some to Poland 
China, and some to Essex. 

Instead of being a small field of enterprise, this is 



STOCK-GKOWING 171 

a very large field. It is also very attractive to those 
so inclined. Large profits have been made in all of 
them, but these lines of farming require something of 
intelligence and business capacity. To insure success, 
you must study your line thoroughly. The finest 
breeds of horses have been grown in Kentucky and 
Tennessee. There is no reason, in the natural ad- 
vantages, why the same may not be done in the re- 
maining Southern States. 

As we have already shown, grass is the cheapest 
food for stock of all kinds. We have given too much 
attention to killing grass and raising cotton. But 
with our Bermuda, crowfoot, and crab-grass and 
others, this need no longer be true. Here we do not 
need expensive barns. Our colts can run out all the 
summer and most of the winter. This gives them 
good constitutions. They are liable to but few dis- 
eases. They grow to fine size. Georgia-raised 
horses seem to have more power of endurance than 
those grown north of us. Our food can be grown 
here, and as cheaply as anywhere. 

Blooded horses, as they are called, bring the best 
prices, but it is not settled that they are the best pay- 
ing horses to grow. Usually all that is needed, is to 
secure a good blooded stallion and a mare of fair size 
and qualities, and grow good serviceable colts. This 
book can not enter into the details. If you wish to 
succeed you must make your line a special study. To 
do this, you need books upon these particular sub- 
jects. Fortunately there are plenty of them. But we 
wish to point out the lines of farming, and give the 



172 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

elementary principles only. Particularly we wish to 
do this in such a way as to show that this Southern 
country is as well adapted to these higher lines of 
farming as other parts of our great country. The 
presence of so large a colored population and the 
consequent, almost exclusive cultivation of cotton 
has caused many wrong ideas of our capacity to get 
abroad and grow up with us. 

Stock-raising can be successfully followed here. 
We can grow as good horses, and make as much 
money at it as any section. Mules are easily grown 
here. Farms devoted entirely to this line would 
pay well. Secure your pasture, get the very best 
jacks and cross with good mares, and you can pro- 
duce the very finest of mules. The fact that the 
mules do not breed is the one limit to the money in 
the business. This is offset by the early maturity 
of mules. They require very little hand-feeding or 
care of any sort. Cattle, cows for sale, whether as 
milkers, breeders, beeves, or oxen, is an industry 
always inviting. You may select one or all of these 
lines. 

Get fine thoroughbred males of the desired blood 
and bred up, upon good common cows, is the least 
risky and the most profitable, unless you wish to sell 
high-bred cattle at fancy figures. Cattle serve so 
many purposes in human economy that they will 
always be in demand. A little capital, a large 
share of industry, and a good judgment will soon 
bring in the money. The great cattle ranches of 
the West will not last always. The pressing demands 



STOCK-GROWING 173 

of a growing and crowding civilization will cut them 
into farms for other purposes, but the demand for 
the cattle will go on just the same, increasing with 
the movement of civilization. 

The future will see great packing-houses in At- 
lanta and other Southern cities vieing with Kansas 
City and Chicago. Creameries, cheese factories, and 
packing-houses, will give aid to cattle-growing. The 
wise farmer will study cattle instead of cotton. 

Hogs were upon every farm in the South before 
the war between the States. The high prices paid 
for cotton many years after this war ended and the 
fearful depredations of hog thieves and the introduc- 
tion of commercial fertilizers, have conspired to de- 
stroy this branch of farming. Better enforcement of 
the [law and the low price of cotton and the large 
profit in hog products, all point to the revival of this 
industry. The manufacture of ice and the improve- 
ments in cold storage, make it quite possible to grow 
hogs profitably for market. Packing-houses may be 
successfully run anywhere in the South. 

Almost any one can grow hogs. The chief requi- 
site is plenty of corn, then a good pasture, well-wa- 
tered, will complete the outfit. With Bermuda, cow- 
peas, chufas, Spanish ground-peas, sweet potatoes, and 
turnips and with sorghum added, you can have cheap 
food all the year round. The best breed must be 
determined by each grower. The Poland China 
grows rapidly and very large. The Berkshire and 
Essex breeds, pure or mixed, fatten well at an early 
age. Either of these with some Poland China blood, 



174 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

make very profitable market hogs. With small 
capital, industry will be almost certain to insure 
success. Some farmers in extreme southern part of 
Georgia are making money growing hogs to ship 
North. If young men will study this line of farm- 
ing instead of cotton-growing, they will find farm- 
ing more pleasant and profitable. 

In stock-growing lies the future prosperity of the 
Southern farmer. There is less competition and 
better pay than in cotton-growing. If cotton has 
been and must remain king, let grass be queen, and 
"the cattle upon a thousand hills" the fair offspring. 

QUESTIONS. 
1. How will we discuss stock-raising? 2. What may be se- 
lected ? 3. Is this a large field? 4. What is needed for success? 
5. Can we grow fine horses? 6. What are in our favor? 7. 
What horses will pay best? 8. How can we succeed? 9. What 
has hindered? 10. What about growing mules? 11. What 
about cattle? 12. What will insure success? 13. What will 
become of Western ranches? 14. Can we have packing-houses? 
15. What about hog farming? 16. Have we the food for cheap 
hogs? 17. What can take the place of cotton? 



POULTRY FARMING 



17J 



CHAPTER XXIX. 




5^RMI1Vq 




*>• 



HIS may seem to many as a rather fancy idea. 
It is not at all so. Growing poultry either 
as a side-line upon every farm, or as an inde- 
pendent business, is altogether practicable, and may 
be quite profitable. The poultry farm may be run 
either for the purpose of selling pure breeds at fancy 
figures or eggs by the setting, or both ; or growing 
poultry for market or all of these combined. The 
management will depend a good deal upon the end in 
view. Very little room is required for a poultry yard. 
The back yard of a city lot is often sufficient. If the 
object is to grow fancy birds, then a small area will 
answer. The one essential point in such cases is to 
keep the breed pure, and grow perfect specimens of the 
kind selected. 

While poultry includes ducks, geese, peafowls, 
and turkeys, and such like, we shall speak princi- 
pally of chickens. In our Southern climate, we 



176 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

do not need tight, warm houses, but open, airy- 
ones. There should always be several yards or 
walks fenced separately. Chicks of different ages 
can then be kept entirely separate. So if there be 
different breeds, they may be kept apart. Yards 
and roosts should be kept clean. Sand for the stom- 
ach and dust for the birds are very necessary. The 
one helps digestion, the other is the surest remedy for 
vermin. If the roosts or nests become infested a free 
use of whitewash and coal oil is the surest way to 
get rid of them. 

A little sulphur mixed in the food occasionally is 
wholesome. Lime kept where the hens can have 
free use of it helps very much in producing fine 
eggs. Pure water should always be at hand. Cop- 
peras in the drinking-water once a week will pre- 
vent many diseases. Chickens need a moderate 
amount of exercise and sunshine. The food should 
be changed as often as convenient. Chickens are 
very fond of green food. A small plat of Bermuda 
is very helpful. Cabbage, turnips, clover, oats, and 
other small grain while growing, all or either will 
be found valuable. 

These cause the hens to lay more, and the young 
chicks to grow faster. There will always be a ready 
market for eggs, frying chickens young hens and 
cockerels. There is no trouble about the market. 
The trouble is always on the side of the supply. 
Sometimes eggs are too abundant in August. By 
washing them in lime water, or packing them in 
salt, small end downward, they may be kept fresh. 



POULTRY FARMING 177 

The one essential thing is constant attention to the 
minor details. By intelligent crossings the quality 
of your chicks may be greatly improved or contin- 
ually kept up. 

Many people do not know that there is as much 
difference in the food value of eggs as in almost any 
article of food. Well kept, healthy hens lay larger 
eggs, with much richer yolks, than poorly fed and 
neglected hens. This point will be better under- 
stood in the near future. A fat, plump chicken is 
worth to the housekeeper more than two lean, half- 
starved chickens of the same age and apparent size 
with feathers on. There is a tendency toward pricing 
fowls by the pound rather than the appearance. 
This is evidently a step in the right direction. This 
line of farming is eminently suited to the tastes and 
capacities of women. It gives them outdoor exercise 
without unnecessary exposure. 

The use of incubators and brooders has wrought 
quite a revolution in the poultry business. "We 
shall not discuss these, because so many improve- 
ments are being introduced that what we might say 
now would be out of date in a few years. But in 
time saved the hens in sitting and rearing and in 
economy of room, there is certainly great economy. 
Whether the expense and risk offset these each must 
decide. One thing we wish to emphasize. No sec- 
tion can claim a monopoly upon chickens and eggs. 
The poultry business is cosmopolitan. It knows no 
North, no South, no East, no West. It is as bound- 
less as the globe and as prevalent as the human 



178 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

race. Steadily as civilization treads upon its on- 
ward march with even step the chanticleer's shrill 
voice is heard. 

The South, however, does possess climatic advan- 
tages which make poultry farming very attractive. 

QUESTIONS. 
1. Is there profit in poultry? 2. How may they be profita- 
ble? 3. Is much room needed? 4. What is needed in our cli- 
mate? 5. What will keep them healthy? 6. What about ex- 
ercise and food? 7. Is there danger of over-supply? 8. How 
may breeds be improved? 9. How may products be improved? 
10. What of incubators and brooders? 11. Is this industry 
local? 



BEE-KEEPING 



170 



CHAPTER XXX. 





HE author not being an expert bee-keeper, 
i^ this chapter was written at his request by 
Miss Anna Sanders, of Whitaker, Miss., who 
is an acknowledged authority upon this subject. 
Many of our ladies seeking employment may find 
pleasure and profit in bee-keeping. Miss Sanders 
says: 

Bees must be interesting to every thinking person, 
who sees enough of them to appreciate their wonder- 
ful intelligence and industry. Man has enjoyed 
honey from the earliest times. It is often mentioned 
in the Bible. Canaan is described as a land where 
milk and honey flow, showing that it was abundant, 
and that it was regarded as something much to be 
desired. It is not only palatable and healthful, but 
medicinal. I wish it might be on every table in the 
land the year 'round. Then would consumption, 
coughs, and colds be seldom found. True there are 
a few who dare not eat it 



180 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

Bee-keeping is intensely interesting, when you 
really get into it. There should be a few stands of 
bees on every farm. With judicious attention, they 
pay wonderfully well. Any one can make a success 
of bee-keeping now with the movable frame hive, 
the extractor, the Italian bees, the comb foundation, 
bee veils, gloves and other helps. 

If you wish to try it, you should get your bees 
early in the spring. The danger of winter is then 
over, or nearly over, the hive is lighter and can be 
more easily and safely moved, and the bees will have 
the whole season to work for you. You should learn 
their condition at once, and keep posted all the time 
till you are sure the honey season is over. My 
earliest extracting was the 15th of April, my latest 
the 4th of July, but it was too late. The bees did 
not have time to replace their stores before the hot 
dry summer. I was away, and half of them starved. 
I have seldom extracted in the fall. They need all 
the fall honey to carry them through the winter. If 
they are weak, they may not lay up enough in the 
fall. 

My earliest extracting commenced the 15th of 
April and lasted three weeks. It was poplar honey, 
very fine, and averaged forty gallons per hive. I 
might have commenced earlier, if I had been watch- 
ing more closely. The hive was full when I learned 
that the poplar was in bloom, and commenced. This 
supply stopped suddenly, but there was a later yield 
of some other kind, a few gallons per hive. Then 
the latter part of summer they were bare of stores, 



BEE-KEEPING 181 

and would have all starved, if I had not fed them 
the latter part of September and the early part of 
October. I fed at the doors of their hives a little 
every evening until the 8th of October, when they 
commenced gathering honey. The flow lasted eight 
days, and was plenty for the winter. I did not feed 
over one half pound of sugar per hive. I do not 
often extract under four days after a previous ex- 
tracting, and never under three days, except that 
one season. Being unmixed poplar honey, it was 
almost thick when gathered. When it is ripe the 
bees commence to cap it. Thus can you tell when 
to extract. The seasons are very variable as to the 
flow of honey, the source and the time, but if you 
have strong stocks in good hives, and give them 
proper attention, they will do all for you that 
you should expect. If you want to get all the 
honey you can, and prevent swarmings, you will 
have to watch closely that your bees are strong. One 
year I had one hive four stories high, ten pounds in 
each story, eigteen by nine inches. I got six gallons 
of honey at one extracting from it. It was full of 
bees, brood, and honey. " Bees work for nothing, 
and feed themselves," but it is greatly to your inter- 
est to keep them strong. If they are not strong early 
in the season, they will be rearing brood when they 
should be gathering honey. Before opening a hive 
of bees, you should smoke them until they roar, wait 
a little, blow in another whiff, and open. Burning 
lint cotton in a horn answers very well. Keep your 
smokers ready and also fire close by while you have 



182 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

the bees open. It is best to work with them when 
they are busiest, then there is less danger of their 
stinging. Do not stand in their way, but at one side. 
Avoid jarring the frames. Their rules of etiquette 
can not be safely infringed. Certain odors are offen- 
sive to them. The human breath especially if taint- 
ed with tobacco, whisky, or onions as well as certain 
perfumes. 

Have everything ready so that you will not dis- 
turb them unnecessarily long. Do not use feathers 
when you wish to brush them off of any place, but 
a small whisk-broom. Loosen the ends of the frames 
with a pocket knife. Loosen all that you are going 
to lift, before lifting any. If you will put them often 
into a clean hive, burning all the trash that was in 
the other, it will greatly lessen the moth trouble. I 
keep them covered with cloths while the hives are 
open. They should be so placed that they will be 
shaded in the heat of the day, although they need 
some sunshine. Northern bee-keepers like their 
hives low so that the bees, when chilled and fallen 
to the ground, can crawl in. We, in the South, have 
to guard more against heat and pests, moths and 
roaches, especially, than against the cold. Our hives 
should be large enough to allow light and air under 
them, and also chickens to pick off worms and bugs. 

There is only one queen to each hive, and should 
she die and they have no brood or eggs to replace 
her, they become very miserable and soon die out. 
She lays all the eggs. She has a larger and longer 
body, and is in fact entirely dififerent in appearance 



BEE-KEEPING 183 

from the workers. Each egg is attached to the bot- 
tom of the cell by a glutinous substance, which 
keeps it firmly in place. In three or four days it 
becomes a little worm, and is fed by the bees on pol- 
len and honey (bee bread). When sufficiently large, 
the bees seal up the cell, and the little creature spins 
a delicate lining to the cell exactly fitting it. The 
little thing gradually takes on legs, wings and all 
the organs necessary for a full-fledged bee, which it 
becomes about the twenty-first day if a worker, or 
the sixteenth if a queen, the drone requiring about 
twenty-four. It then cuts its way out ready for 
work. 

The age of the bee usually determines the work 
it does; nursing, pollen-gathering, and honey-gath- 
ering, coming in order ; the last work of the worn- 
out bees being to add to the heat of the hive by fan- 
ning the hive proper with their bodies. I think any 
of them can do any kind of work, and do it when 
circumstances require. A hive with glass sides, 
just a single pane to observe, having wooden slides 
outside to keep them dark when not being observed, 
affords an opportunity for watching all the proceed- 
ings of these most wonderful little people. This is 
especially interesting when you introduce an Italian 
Queen into a hive of black bees. 

A colony of bees in a normal condition consists, 
besides the queen, entirely of workers and imper- 
fectly developed females, except in the swarming 
time, when there will be a few thousand drones. 
Their only use seems to be the impregnation of the 



184 AGEICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

queen, which takes place high up in the air and us- 
ually only once in her life. When the swarming 
season is over the drones, still remaining, are perse- 
cuted and driven away. When the flow of honey 
stops suddenly and entirely, they are killed oflf at, 
one swoop. I have been keeping bees over thirty 
years, and have had this happen only twice. In the 
evening all seemed serene, in the morning at each 
door was a pile of dead drones, nearly a quart at 
some of the doors. The reason, evidently, for their 
keeping their drones so long in the South is that our 
climate and forage are such that they think swarm- 
ing is in order a long time, and keep ready for it. 
The wholesale killing is the usual way in the North. 
A queen can be raised from any worker egg. 
From the time an egg or worm is chosen to become 
a queen, it is treated with great consideration. A 
queen cell is entirely different from all other cells. 
Compared to them, it is immense in size. It is 
often more than one inch long, and has very much 
the appearance and shape of a pinder. It is built 
on or out of a worker cell usually, and quite a num- 
ber of worker cells or sun-brood cells are sacrificed 
to make room for it. It is built most frequently 
at the bottom or sides of the comb or where there is 
a hole in it, and hangs so that the Embryo queen 
has her head downward, after a certain stage in her 
development. The little Embryo queen is kept 
swimming in food, royal jelly they call it, although 
it is now I think generally understood to be the 
same food given to the workers, and that the per- 



BEE-KEEPING 185 

feet development of the queen comes from the abun- 
dant supply of food and room, and perhaps the 
hanging of the cell has something to do with it. 

The beautiful hexagonal cells of the honey comb 
will always excite admiration. There are sixteen 
drone cells and twenty-five worker cells to the 
square inch. Wax is secreted by the workers, and 
comes from between the rings around their bodies 
in little pearly scales, which they chew up in their 
mouths to prepare it for building the cells. A cer- 
tain temperature in the hive is necessary for the 
work, as well as for brood-raising. The length of a 
bee's life depends upon circumstances. In the 
North, where they are shut up all winter in close 
quarters, they live many months. In the South, in 
the honey season, they live a very short time, not 
more than three or four weeks sometimes. They 
wear themselves out flying. We have learned a 
great deal by introducing Italian queens in black 
hives. Queens live several years, but I have never 
had one I valued much after the first year. They 
exhaust themselves sooner where they lay eggs a 
considerable part of the year. The time of mating, 
the time of commencing to lay eggs after mating, 
and the number of eggs laid, depend on the 
weather, the condition of the bees, the flow of honey, 
and the vigor of the queen. That wonderful year 
I had a queen that commenced laying before she 
had been two days out of her cell. Usually it is 
several days before she takes her flight, and several 
days more before she commences to lay. It is said 

13 



186 AGRICULTUKi: FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

to take from thirteen to twenty-seven pounds of 
honey to make one pound of wax. Thus you see 
the value of the extractor, as you extract the honey 
completely, and return the combs to the bees an un- 
limited number of times. If you wish to catch 
swarms, it is well to have a hive ready with some 
comb foundation in a frame or two to start the bees. 
Have a lighter box or basket to bring the swarm in, 
if at a distance. Pour them at the entrance of the 
hive, and with a shingle or something pour part of 
them right into the doorway, thumping on the hive 
with a stick in the meantime. If you can put a 
card of real brood (unsealed) into the hive, you will 
almost certainly get them. Keep coaxing them in, 
until you hear the hum of acceptance. 

Wonderful strides have been made of late years 
in this industry that we bee-keepers think so fasci- 
nating, but much still remains to reward the care- 
ful research of those who love to look into the curi- 
ous ways of this most interesting of all God's little 
creatures. 

For those who love honey and money made from 
honey, there is a wide field for the industrious, the 
energetic and the inventive. For instance, please 
find a comb foundation that will please the bees, 
and not please the moth. In this short chapter I 
tried to inspire some of our own love in the hearts 
of others for our little pets. 



BEE-KEEPING 187 

QUESTIONS. 

1. Who is the author of thia chapter? 2. How long have we 
had honey? 3. Is it desirable? Why? 4. Is bee-keeping in- 
teresting and profitable? 5. Then should we begin? Why? 
6. When can we begin extracting and how long continue? 7. 
How much has been extracted in a season? 8. Is it ever neces- 
sary to feed bees? 9. How can we tell when to extract? 10. 
How much from one extraction? 11. Why should bees be kept 
strong? 12. How shall we proceed to take the honey? 13. 
When is the best time? 14. What is offensive to bees? 15. 
How can we help keep out moths? 16. How shall we proceed? 
17. How shall we place hives? AVhy? 18. Tell about the 
queen. 19. Describe hatching and growth of workers. 20. 
What decides the bees' work? 21. How may we observe their 
work.? 22. What adds to the interest? 23. What makes up a 
colony? 24. What becomes of the drones? 25' Why do South- 
ern bees keep drones longer? 26. How can a queen be raised ? 
27. Describe the process fully. 28. Tell what you can about the 
cells. 29. How long do bees live? 30. How have we learned a 
great deal? 31. What is the life and history of the queens? 
32. How much honey makes a pound of wax? 33. How shall 
we save the swarms? 34. Has much progress been made ? 35. 
Is all known? 36. What was the object in writing this chapter? 



188 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XXXI. 




OOD roads are a matter of interest to all. 
The city man needs good roads for pleas- 
ure and for business. The merchant feels 
much interest in the roads, because they affect 
his business. The bicycle riders, above all others, 
desire and demand good roads. To them we are 
largely indebted for much that has been done, and 
that will be done to secure better roads. Railroads 
are much interested in this subject. If the wagon 
roads that lead to their depots are good, it helps their 
business. But above all others, the farmers are de- 
pendent upon the condition of the roads. They must 
do a good deal of traveling and hauling. To them 
bad roads mean loss everj'^ trip they make. The time 
required to make a given trip is much increased if 
the roads be bad. In a lifetime this becomes a serious 
item. Again, the wear and tear of teams, vehicles and 
persons is more than doubled by the ordinary coun- 



FAKM AND PUBLIC ROADS 189 

try road. The load that can be carried is deter- 
mined by the worst place in the road. This gen- 
erally means that a comparatively small load can 
be taken. An ordinary double team will carry from 
three to four times as much over a good, macadamized 
road as over the ordinary country dirt road. Thus 
we could save about two-thirds of the trips in mar- 
keting our crops and hauling out supplies. Two 
mules, if the roads be bad, take two bales of cotton 
to market. Upon a good road they can carry from 
six to eight bales. The comparative saving can not 
be estimated. With good roads the distance to 
market would be less objection to the farmer. The 
facility for getting the mails, going to church and 
school, visiting and social intercourse, would be so 
changed as to make farm life entirely different. 
Very many objections to living on the farm would 
at once disappear. Farmers could then keep in 
touch with the world and in sympathy with the age 
in which they live. The farm carrying could then 
be done when the weather was not suited to farm 
work. "With the ordinary dirt road, this is the time 
when it is in the poorest condition for use. Good 
roads increase the value of farm property, cheapen 
the cost of the necessary marketing, increase the 
value of farm products, make farm life happier, and 
uplift the entire interests of the community. 

"What are good roads and how shall we get them? 
Every one knows what bad roads are. Most of us 
have learned that water is the chief cause of bad 
roads. Sometimes the trouble is injudicious location 



190 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

of the road. If a roadway runs right up a steep hill, 
it will always be a bad road. Roads should always 
go around steep grades. Over six feet rise in one 
hundred should be avoided. Four feet is better, and 
can generally be obtained. A team can pull about 
twice the load, if the grade can be kept two feet in 
one hundred. Skilled engineering will pay. 

The next point to be secured is a firm road-bed, 
neither mud nor sand. This should be kept free 
from cuts and holes, caused by standing or running 
water. AVater must be kept off the road-bed. Wa- 
ter drains must be so constructed as to keep the 
road-bed dry. The center of the road-bed should 
be higher than the sides, so that the rain water will 
run off the road, instead of along the road. The 
bed must be so firm that it will not yield to the 
wheels. Broad tires would help very much at this 
point. Now how to get this hard road is the most 
important and difficult point. Conditions vary so 
much, that some can succeed one way and others 
another way. 

Macadam is the best, if you have the money, and 
the material near at hand. The cost will vary from 
11,200 to 17,000 per mile. The roadway must be 
surveyed and graded, and seven or eight inches of 
broken stone placed upon it, and two inches of fine 
stone upon that. This will make a first-class, per- 
manent road. Where this is too expensive, and 
chert can be had, it will make a good road ; but for 
country-road building a mixture of sand and clay 
will very often be the most suitable. Properly 



FARM AND PUBLIC ROADS 191 

mixed, they make a very good road. If the work is 
well done, and repairs promptly made for a few 
years until they become well settled, they will be 
found durable. In a long series of years, they will 
be cheaper than the ordinary dirt roads, and infi- 
nitely better. 

All improved roads necessitate a road tax, instead 
of day-labor by the citizen. A competent engineer 
must be had, and the work done under a superin- 
tendent who knows how to manage labor and build 
a good road. Convict labor should be employed on 
public highways. It is the only place where their 
labor will be for the benefit of all, and come in 
competition with none. 

The State should bear one-half the expense, the 
cities and towns one-fourth, and the country people 
one-fuurth. In ten years a system of roads could 
thus be built, and with very little, if any, increase 
of taxes. Good roads would greatly lessen crime, 
and elevate citizenship. "What light does to break 
up crime-centers in cities, good roads will do in the 
country. The State could pay a good part of its 
half with labor and material. But whether this 
system, or some other, be used, by some way let 
us have good roads. They will make free mail 
delivery practicable everywhere. But farmers need 
farm roads, and it is very important to have these 
located well. A farm will remain while the world 
stands. If your roads are well surveyed, so as to 
have no hard pulls, and divide the farm in such a 
way that every part can be easily reached, they will 



192 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

likely remain for all time. If badly located, these 
roads are likely to start washes. Once properly 
located, they should be made permanent. They 
will thus contribute to the happiness of the family, 
as well as to the income of the farm. Good roads 
will greatly help to stop the flow of country people 
to town. In our boyhood days we lived eight miles 
from the country town. It was a good day's work 
to go up to town, transact a little business, and get 
home after dark. With a good road, we could have 
made the trip before breakfast or after supper, and 
saved the day for work on the farm. In Italy it 
used to be said, "All roads lead to Rome." In this 
day, in America, it should be said all roads lead to 
the farm. 

QUESTIONS. 
1. Why do good roads interest the farmer? 2. What do bad 
roads cause? 3. What would good roads save us? 4. What 
other advantages? 5. What about time of hauling? 6. What 
effect upon the value of the farm, etc.? 7. What about loca- 
tion? 8. What is the next point? 9. What ruins roads? 10. 
How can this be avoided? 11. How can we get hard road- 
beds? 12. What is the best, and the cost? 13. What can be 
done almost anywhere? 14. Will tax cost more than labor 
plan? 15. Where should convict labor be used? 16. How 
should the expense of building good roads be divided? 17. 
What will they make practicable? 18. How about farm roads? 
19. How will they help? 20. What illustration is given? 



FARM BUILDINGS 



193 



CHAPTER XXXII. 





I OME should be the sweetest place on earth. 
Nowhere else can nature and art so well 
combine to produce perfect results. In the 
field we toil. In the home we rest. Here all that 
is purest and best collect. This is the center. 
Around this all the other things we value arrange 
themselves. This is our earthly paradise. 

Let us move carefully and cautiously as we build 
the farm home. Select the location for beauty, com- 
fort, and convenience. This order has generally 
been reversed, if considered at all. Beauty was left 
to the last and least; but beauty must have first 
rank in so many things upon the farm that we in- 
sist that beauty should have first consideration in 
locating the life-time home of the family. A mis- 
take at this point can never be remedied. A pretty 
location is a joy forever. It is a well-spring of hap 
piness through all time to every one. It is the one 
thing needful in starting a happy home. 

Having selected a pretty place, build for comfort 



194 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

and convenience. Farm houses should be the pret- 
tiest and best. No people spend more of their time 
at home than the farmers. Farm houses are not 
generally near each other, and many of the comforts 
of social life must be provided for by each separate 
home. Plenty of room is important. You and yours 
must look to this building as your ideal for many 
long years. So build with taste. In the city con- 
stant variety and continual new designs in archi- 
tecture attract, delight and relieve the eye ; but you 
are building a home which must furnish its own 
delights. Build attractive houses on the farm. 

If you are not comfortable at home, you will live 
an uncomfortable life. Have an eye for comfort 
then in every detail of your home. This is tenfold 
more important for the farmers' wives. Here in this 
house will be spent the larger part of their lives. 
The multiplied little duties of the housewife will 
make life worse than a drudgery to her if she has 
few or no conveniences, but if her wants have been 
anticipated and her comforts provided for, a thou- 
sand of her toils can be lightened. She will be 
cheerful and happy. Her voice will be full of the 
music of content. Her home will be bright. Her 
children will grow up with good hearts and cheery 
dispositions. No money can be better spent than 
building a good home upon the farm. Such a home 
is educative, mentally and morally. Of course you 
must build according to your ability. The pretty 
place does not depend upon that, but size and style 
of the house do somewhat. If you can only build 



FARM BUILDINGS 195 

one or two rooms, build so that you can add to it. 
A very small house may be a pretty and convenient 
house. Having this much settled, build neat sur- 
roundings. Have an eye to looks, convenience, 
safety and durability. Do not build as though you 
expected to move in a year or two, but as if you 
expected to live and die right there. 

How many and what kind of farm houses each 
farmer will need, can not be fully discussed here. 
They will vary as the kind of farming he follows 

varies. 

Next to the dwelling, every farm must have a 
barn. Many have seemed to give more importance 
to the barn than to the dwelling. This is wrong. 
But a good convenient barn is a necessary part of 
any well equipped farm. If the farm animals and 
the produce are to be kept in the same building, it 
should be a large one. Plenty of room is one step 
to success. In the South barns need not be expen- 
sive. We do not need to build to defend the ani- 
mals against cold. It is rather for shelter and stor- 
age. The arrangements should always have special 
reference to the convenience of feeding and possi- 
bility of escape from fire. The animals should be 
kept upon the ground floor, unless we arrange for a 
manure storage there. Hillsides often help to secure 
this. Saving manure is second only in importance 
to storing the food. "Whether to build one very 
large barn or two or more smaller, will often depend 
upon local surroundings. Every farmer should 
arrange to keep plenty of animals. Hence he must 



196 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

store much food, and consequently he must care for 
much manure. 

The manure shed may be a separate place, and 
the manure be carried from the barn every day. 
The barn should not be too near the dwelling so as 
to be offensive, nor too far away as to be troublesome 
to reach. If practicable, the barn should always 
be so located that the water from the barn and barn- 
yard can be caught in a field, in grass or cultiva- 
tion. Much may be saved in this way. Such fields 
will soon become very rich. 

Plenty of houses for storing all farm machinery 
and tools should be at hand. It does not pay to 
buy good tools and leave them to the action of the 
sunshine, rain and frost. A little night work spent 
in planning, and the odds and ends of time, with 
saw and hammer, will enable most farmers to build 
most of such houses at very little cost. Every dol- 
lar judiciously spent in farm building becomes a 
part of the permanent value of the farm. In the 
South lumber is so cheap and labor so abundant 
that an industrious man can soon have good houses 
and plenty of them. 

We once visited a contented, prosperous farmer 
who had every needed building. — twenty-one of 
them — all built by himself and sons with axe, saw 
and hammer, and neither one of them a carpenter. 
He had not paid out twenty-five dollars on the 
whole. They were neat and well-arranged. Of 
course every house should be kept neatly painted ; 



FARM BUILDINGS 197 

paint is cheaper than repair or rebuilding. It can 
be bought ready prepared, and spread on by any one. 
So far, we have spoken of the farmer's house — the 
landowner's dwelling-place — but the tenant system 
is so well spread in the South that we must say 
something of houses for tenants. These are much 
more numerous in all this country than the others. 
Their character is distinct, and enters quite largely 
into the farming economy of the South. 

Negroes are contented with such huts, mere apol- 
ogies for houses, and happy with such meagre sur- 
roundings, that decent white people can never suc- 
cessfully compete with them at this point. Such 
numbers of them will huddle together in one or two 
rooms of any tumble-down hut, that they defy com- 
petition here also. Poverty and complete change 
of labor systems have contributed to discourage 
building better tenements. Hence we see all grades 
and conditions of houses as tenements. They are 
a disgrace to the land. But in the lapse of years 
many communities have improved. Landowners 
have concluded that better houses would help to 
make better tenants, and better tenants have de- 
manded better houses. 

The prevailing style of tenant houses is one with 
two rooms, and a chimney with two fire-places be- 
tween. These are often planked up and down and 
stripped. Very many are now weather-boarded in 
regular style, and some of them are painted and 
have glass windows. Farmers have been rather 
slow to appreciate the effect of these better houses 



198 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

in causing the tenants to remain for longer periods 
on the same farm. The habit of frequent changes 
is very hurtful to successful farming. Anything 
that locates the laborer permanently is a good help. 

We unhesitatingly urge that more attention be 
given to building good, comfortable houses for our 
laboring people. Houses are a very important item 
in farm economy. Good houses and attractive sur- 
roundings will help to give permanency to our farm- 
ing population, and in many ways to improve South- 
ern farming. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What of the farm home? 2. Is location important? 
3. Why is beauty first point ? 4. How should houses be 
built ? 5. Why do we need room and taste ? 6. On whose 
account should comfort and convenience prevail? 7. What 
will result? 8. What if your means are limited? 9. What is 
next to the dwelling? 10. What kind of barn? 11. How 
should it be located ? 13. Do we need shelters for tools ? 13. 
Is any money lost in good building ? 14. Need they cost much? 
15. Give example? 16. Shall we paint? 17. What other 
houses do we need ? 18. Why have tenant houses been poor ? 
19. Are they improving? 20. What style prevails ? 21. Con- 
clusions. 



VILLAGE FARMING 199 



CHAPTER XXXIIL 

VlLLAGE^MING 





EVERAL times we have alluded to the 
lonesomeness of farm life. Each farm 
being a realm of its own, each farm 
queen has to endure the solitude of her isolation. 
This situation has grown more painful as farm 
owners have moved to town and left the country to 
tenants. Often it becomes unbearable, and an- 
other family is driven from the farm to seek society. 
Very many suggestions have been made to relieve 
this difficulty. All of these have some merit. None 
are complete. Among these suggested remedies, 
village farming deserves particular attention. It 
proposes that a few thousand acres shall be owned 
by one party or company, so as to come under one 
general plan. Near the center a village is to be 
planned in such way as that a continuation of the 
streets will reach every part of the farming interests. 
This village is to be of such size as to furnish all 
the conveniences of Christian social life. Churches, 
chools, stores, shops, warehouses, such manufac- 



200 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

turing facilities as are needed are provided. Around 
these dwellings, lots of suitable size are offered. 
With each of these a large plot of land further out 
is arranged for. The idea is that each farmer shall 
live in the village, and thus enjoy social, educa- 
tional, and commercial privileges. At the same 
time his farm will be near enough to hand so that, 
with very little loss of time, he can come and go. 
This is a community without any communism. 

In this way it is expected that each farmer, fol- 
lowing the bent of his individual tastes and capabil- 
ities, will produce what he prefers. Thus the great- 
est possible diversity will be found to be encour- 
aged. The non-producing population will furnish 
a partial market for the products of the farms. Each 
man will be as independent as if he lived upon an 
isolated farm, and yet each will feel the quickening 
influence of association and competition. These 
villages will produce much for shipment. In this 
lies one of their strong points. Shipping in small 
quantities is often unprofitable, when shipping the 
same articles in large quantities pays a good profit. 
In such cases it is easy to secure the co-operation of 
a large number of all the village farmers. To illus- 
trate : Shipping a few crates of strawberries might 
not pay, while shipping in car-lots would. The 
same might be true of grapes, peaches, melons, and 
vegetables. 

The principle of the power of combination and co- 
operation here has a fair chance. Thus it is claimed 
that farming might be made more pleasant and 



VILLAGE FARMING 201 

profitable by getting the farmers together in these 
villages. It is also claimed that many who will not 
farm, if compelled to endure the loneliness of soli- 
tary farms, would be eager to farm with the social 
advantages thus given ; that the congested popula- 
tion of many of our cities would be pleased to find 
relief in the new phase of farm life. This seems 
likely. It is further expected that the constant 
stimulus of social and educational contact would 
give better training to those engaged in farming. 
Clubs for discussion could be organized and kept 
alive. The mail facilities would help the farmers 
to take and read very many more journals and books 
upon agriculture. Lectures and experiments could 
be easily arranged, and in very many ways the 
farmers could be educated to better methods than 
are practicable under the present system. 

In older countries these farm villages are quite 
common. They give protection to the wives and 
families of the farmers. There are serious difiicul- 
ties in getting them started. But few men own 
tracts large enough. When they do, they are not 
generally men suited to inaugurate such enterprises, 
or inclined to do so, if capable. It is difficult to 
overcome the spirit of individual independence 
which American influences have instilled into our 
heads and hearts. The feeling of mutual depend- 
ence must precede any hearty unity of purpose and 
co-operation in practice. 



u 



202 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

QUESTIONS. 
1. What ia the situation of most farms? 2. What remedy is 
proposed? 3. What is village farming? 4. Where are the 
farms? 5. Where are the homes? 6. What is the idea? 7. 
What will result? 8. What of the non-producers? 9. What 
advantage to each farmer? 10. What about surplus? 11. Give 
illui^trations. 12. What is claimed? 13. What else? 14. What 
other helps? 15. Are they new? 16. What difficulties? 17. 
Can they be overcome? 



FORESTRY 



203 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 




jROWING the native trees has not been 
considered farming. The farmer has been 
compelled to spend large money and labor 
to get the forest trees destroyed so that he could culti- 
vate the land. No thought was given to the value 
of the wood land to the farm, until it was seen that 
the ax was fast helping to produce a desert waste. 
It was found that when great stretches of contigu- 
ous land was cleared, the winds came with such 
force as to do much damage. They caused the soil 
to bake, and hence to need more rain. They gave 
us colder winters and disastrous storms. We have 
come to think that clearing land has been overdone. 
The system of farming adopted by our ancestors 
was based upon the idea that it was best to cut down 
and burn up the forest growth, wear and wash away 
fields, and clear new ones. Thus they went rapidly 
forward, never stopping to care for the fields al- 



204 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

ready wearing. We may consider this subject under 
three points of view. 

The era of desolation comes first. This we have 
seen was brought about by want of forethought, and 
we the more encouraged in it by the seemingly ex- 
haustless forests yet ahead of us. When they had 
desolated one farm, they simply moved further west 
and found plenty more. Now we must call a halt. 
The supply is not exhaustless. We have reached 
the boundary and began to roll back. When we 
look upon this condition, we are forced to stop and 
begin the era of contemplation. Amazed at the 
ruin they have wrought, and brought face to face 
with the fatal consequences about to follow we must 
think. What have they done? How did they do 
it? What shall we do? How shall we do it? 

We have greatly injured the farm lands by clear- 
ing too fast, and not caring for what was cleared. 
We need more trees to give us more shade to break 
the wind currents, to cause heavier dews, to pre- 
vent washing, and perhaps to increase the rainfall. 
We must usher in the era of restoration by ceasing 
to cut down carelessly what remains. Every far- 
mer should study carefully his timber resources and 
forests. No trees should be cut without good rea- 
son. Use for firewood the defective and dying trees. 
Where the destruction has gone too far, encourage 
the growth of trees by keeping fires out of the for- 
ests, letting pine orchards grow, and if need be 
plant such nut-bearing or timber-producing trees as 
will be valuable in the future. In this way very 



FORESTRY 206 

much can be done, in a short time, toward supply- 
ing abundant forests for future use. 

In cutting timber for sale a little care in leaving 
all th« small trees to grow will pay a big dividend 
in the near future. Of course, there are places 
where this advice would not be considered worth 
obeying. The mountains on the one hand, and the 
pine sections on the other, will think these are idle 
words, but the great hill and plain sections will see 
the need of them. 

Pecans, black walnuts, hickory nuts, chestnuts, 
oak and pine can be saved or grown by a little care. 
Fortunately, in many parts of the South, all that is 
necessary is to give the trees a chance and they will 
grow in rich abundance. 

QUESTIONS. 
1. What has been the idea and practice? 2. What do we 
begin to see? 3. What was the policy of our fathers? 4. 
How has it resulted ? 5. What point do we first consider? 6. 
What did they do? 7. How do we feel about it? 8. What is 
the second era ? 9. What do we ask ? 10. Why do we need 
trees? 11. What is the third era? 12. How shall we reason? 
13. Can this bring success? 14. Does this apply elsewhere? 



206 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE 




FARMER 

j^- AS A -^=-;.-^ 



[OCIALLY, politically, and in every rela- 
tion the farmer is entitled to equal stand- 
ing with men of any and every profession. As all 
other pursuits depend ultimately upon his for pros- 
perity, his should be of equal dignity. In this new 
and growing country the educated young men have 
largely gone into the professions as they have been 
called. The very nature of their work has caused 
them to study, read and discuss the problems of 
their business and State. The farmer has been more 
to himself, and less called upon to keep up with the 
current events, so he has gradually fallen into the 
habit of being left out of politics to some extent. 
They have always been fully recognized as voters, 
because more numerous, but as office-holders of 
places of honor and trust they have been in a large 
minority. 

This has been a great country for oratory, and 



THE FARMER AS A CITIZEN 107 

orators have largely ruled the country. But as 
farmers are the great body of our people, they should 
have a majority of the offices. The very nature of 
their calling makes them thoughtful, independent, 
and conservative — safe men in counsel and action. 
They are largely to blame for the fact that they do 
not have full voice in everything. They have not 
claimed their share, neither have they fitted them- 
selves for the full discharge of all the duties of citi- 
zenship. Every American citizen is born into poli- 
tics. The genius of our government does not excuse 
because he pursues this or that vocation. He is 
part of the government. His duty is to prepare 
himself to be a good and useful part. He can not 
excuse himself from helping to rule. No set or 
class of men have a deeper interest in good govern- 
ment than the farmers. They are the owners of the 
land. Hence farmers should hold a full share of 
the offices, and be deeply concerned about those who 
hold the rest. 

Most of the political evils we suffer are directly 
traceable to carelessness at the primaries and the 
ballot-boxes. Lawyers have so largely predomi- 
nated in our law-making bodies, and have so com- 
pletely monopolized the direction of the law-mak- 
ing, that we are almost entirely governed by law- 
yers' laws. With purely patriotic intentions, per- 
haps, they have devised what seemed best to them ; 
but we all know that they have so multiplied and 
mystified the laws that it is utterly impossible for 
the average citizen to know them. The lawyers do 



208 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

not even know them themselves. As one of them 
aptly said, "Owing to the glorious uncertainty of 
the law, I may gain my case." From the school- 
board up to the United States Senate the farmers 
should fill their full share of offices, and see that 
legislation is fair to all, and that laws are executed 
with even-handed justice to all. 

QUESTIONS. 
1. How should the fanner rank as a citizen? 2. Why does 
he not do so ? 3. What has largely ruled? 4. Whatt'houldbe 
the case? 5. Who is to blame? 6. What is every American? 
7. Why should farmers hold office ? 8. Who have made our 
laws ? 9. What has resulted ? 10. Have we simple laws? 11. 
What should farmers do ? 



THE FARMER SHOULD BE EDUCATED 



209 




CHAPTER XXXVI. 

HE 

E^RMER 
4^ MOULD BE 




,N proportion to their numbers, there are 
fewer educated men among our farmers 
than ahuost any calling. This has come 
from the idea that a man can make a successful 
farmer without education, but it was thought to 
succeed in other professions a man must be edu- 
cated. From this error it was an easy step to the 
idea that all other professions were more desirable 
and hence more honorable. Our boys grew up 
thinking they would be more respected, and think 
more of themselves, if they could be clerks, mer- 
chants, doctors, lawyers, ministers, teachers, or rail- 
road men. They preferred anything in the shade 
to work in the sun. The growing condition of the 
new country provided very many of the desirable 
places, so it came about that very few educated 
young men remained upon the farms. The land 
was fresh, and labor was rewardable with good crops 
even without skill. Almost any man who would 
work, could make some money on the farm. Edu- 



210 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

cation was not called for. Then came African 
slavery. Soon this was all massed in the South. 
Cotton grew easily, and sold well. Negroes did the 
same. Fortunes were built up like magic, and 
Southern landowners lived like land lords indeed. 
Then came freedom to the slave, and ruin to his 
master. It was a mighty upheaval — a labor revolu- 
tion — a clean wipe out, and a new start. Things 
were reversed. The negro could labor in the tield, 
nought else was he fit for. He could grow cotton. 
It was about all he could do. The white could 
labor in the field also, but he did not want to. The 
freedman was not a congenial companion. So the 
white man went to other pursuits, and left the 
negro to grow cotton, until he has brought us to the 
border of financial ruin. While this has been 
going on thirty-odd years, the land has been neg- 
lected, and has been washed, worn, and exhausted. 
This state of things can not continue. A new era 
must dawn upon us. Better methods must be 
adopted. Brains must come back to the farm. 
Science must take the reins. Intelligence must 
direct. Science has turned on the light. Inven- 
tions have multiplied. Farming is not what it was 
a generation ago. The virgin soil has largely given 
place to the old fields. 

Our energies must now be largely directed to the 
renovation of old lands. Attention must be given 
to preserving them, when restored to fertility. Ma- 
nures, guanos, chemical plant-foods, have come to 



THE FARMER SHOULD BE EDUCATED 211 

stay, and we must know something of their nature 
and their use. 

New and improved farm machinery of all con 
ceivable kinds enable one man to do the work for 
merly done by many. These machines do better 
work than could be done before ; but skill is re- 
quired to use them and keep all their adjustments 
right. Farming no longer means growing cotton, 
corn and wheat. A great variety of crops now de- 
mand our attention. Diversity is the rule. These 
crops require study and intelligence. Special lines 
of farming will rapidly come to the front. We can 
not specialize without understanding our specialty. 
Our markets are changing. Railroads, telegraphic 
communication, steamships, electric appliances of 
all sorts have brought the very " ends of the earth " 
together. "We must know, or we can not keep up. 
We must be educated to keep abreast of the times 
in which we live. Not only does outside pressure 
drive us to this point, but we must be educated to 
keep up with the sharp competition among our- 
selves. If we go on the old slow, out of date way, 
and our neighbor takes the new and progressive 
path and gets in ahead of us, it is our fault. So 
that as the number of educated farmers increases, 
the necessity for a still greater number grows. Like 
a syphon, the surrounding pressure is aided by the 
vacuum created therein. The time has come when 
the farmer who wishes to succeed, must not only 
know that a piece of work must be done, but how 
it must be done and why it must be done. He must 



212 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

know, not guess. The farmer uses the secrets of 
biology and chemistry, of botany and physics, of 
geology and astronomy of mathematics and English. 
He needs to be a scholar as well as an experimenter. 
Very often he must be his own physician, before he 
can reach a doctor. Many times he must act the 
part, both of judge and jury, after pleading the case 
for both plaintiff and defendant. He can scarcely 
proceed without a fair knowledge of mechanics and 
steam. Machinery he must have and use, and know 
how to adjust and repair. He must trade so often, 
that he must be a good judge of horses and cows. 
He needs the broad culture of a well-trained brain 
and useful skill of an expert hand. No other call- 
ing demands so much and so varied knowledge as 
farming. A knowledge of soils, plants and sub- 
soils, of things, and men will be found useful. It 
requires more brains to run successfully a six-horse 
farm than it does to run a bank or a railroad. Let 
the farmer boy be educated, full up, all around. 
When we get our farms managed by educated men, 
we will rise to the full dignity of our profession. 
Then, living the peers of any, we will be respected 
and consulted by all. Then, being not only the 
bone and sinew of the land, but the brain and power 
also, we will be accorded the rank our profession 
deserves. Brains rule the world. Brains direct 
muscle. Let farmers carry their full share of brains, 
and they will stand among the counsellors of the 
nation. While they need general, liberal educa- 
tion they specially need technical education. They 



THE FARMER SHOULD BE EDUCATED 213 

must be taught the science of organizing the 
inorganic. Of giving living form to that which 
is dead. How to use the soil to help the plant 
grow. How to train the plant to get its food 
from the soil. Knowledge is power, and an edu- 
cated brain is a mighty engine. Art is second 
nature, and how to do is a useful art. A trained 
hand is a lever that moves things, but when the 
educated brain and the trained hand are found in 
the same man, the steam is up, and the track is 
ready, and the throttle is waiting to be opened that 
the great engine may bound away upon the course 
of usefulness. 

These make the full man. 

QUESTIONS. 
1. Have farmers been educated ? 2. Why? 3. What have 
our boys thought ? 4. Why was this ? 5. What institutions 
helped this? 6. What became of it? 7. What did freedom 
do ? 8. What has resulted ? 9. Can we stand this ? 10. What 
must rule? 11. What requires our energy? 12. What else 
have come into farm life ? 13. Can machinery run with igno- 
rance ? 14. Why must the farmer be skilled ? 15. Who is to 
blame if he is not ? Ifi. What is needed for success ? 17. 
Does he need to know sciences ? 18. Why ? 19. What range 
of knowledge does he need ? 20. What will this do for us? 
21. Where will this place us ? 22. What special education does 
he need ? 23. What does this enable him to do ? 24. Where 
do we find the full man ? 



214 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



APPENDIX. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

In this chapter we give a number of tables com- 
piled from various sources. They contain much 
useful information, and should be memorized by 
the student or farmer. 

COMPOSITION OF MANURES. 

Table I. 
Nitrogenous Manures. 





Pounds Per Hundred 


ARTICLE 


Nitrogen 


Phosphoric 
Acid 


Potash 




153^ to 16 
19 to 203^ 
12 to 14 

10 to 11 

11 to 121^ 
5 to 6 

7 to 9 
6>^to 73^ 












Dried blood, high-grade 


3 to' 5 
1 to 2 
11 to 14 
6 to 8 
13^ to 2 












Tankage, bone 








Cottonseed-meal 


2 to 3 







Table II. 

Phosphatic Manures. 





Pounds Per Hundred 


ARTICLE 


Phosphoric Acid 






Available 


Insoluble 


Total 


Nitrogen 


8. C. phosphate rock 

Florida phosphate rock. . 

8. C. dissolved rock 

Florida dissolved rock . 
Ground bone 


i2to'i5 
14 to 16 

5 to 8 

6 to 9 
18 to 15 


26 to 28 

33 to 35 

1 to 3 

1 to 4 

15 to 17 

16 to 20 

2 to 3 


26 to 28 
33 to 35 
13 to 16 
16 to 20 
20 to 25 
22 to 29 
15 to 17 


2ii"to iii 
131 to 2j|" 
2 to 8 




Dissolved bone 




"" 



APPENDIX 



216 



COMPOSITION OF MANURES-Continoed. 

Table III. 

Potassic Manures. 





Pounds Pee Hunbeed 


ARTICLE 


Potash 


Phosphoric 
Acid 


Lime 


Chlorine 


Muriate of potash 

Sulphate of potash 


50 

48 to 52 

12 to 121^ 

16 to 20 

20 to 30 

2 to 8 

Ito 2 

5 to 8 




"io" 

30 to 35 
35 to 40 


45 to 48 




J^to 13^ 
80 to 32 




Sylvanit 

Cottonseed-hull ashes . . . 
Wood ashes, unleaehed. . 
Wood ashes, leached 




42 to 46 


7 to 9 
Ito 2 
Ito 1]4 
3 to 5 









Table IV. 
Average Composition of Farm Manures. 







Pounds 


Pee Hundeed 




ARTICLE 


Moisture 


Nitrogen 


Phosphoric 
Acid 


Potash 


Lime 


Cow inanure,f resh 
Horse manure. . . . 
Sheep manure — 
Hog manure 


85.3 
71.3 
64.6 
72.4 
56.0 

75.0 


0.38 
0.53 

o.m 

0.45 
1.63 

0.60 


0.16 
0.28 
0.23 
0.19 
0.54 

0.26 


0.86 
0.53 
0.67 
0.60 
0.85 

0.03 


0.31 
0.21 
0.33 
0.08 
0.24 


Mixed stable ma- 
nure 


0.70 



216 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

STOCK-FOODS. 

Table V. 

Average Composition of Stock-Foods. 



NAME OF FOOD 



Oreen Food and Ensilage. 

Corn fodder 

Sorghum fodder 

Rye fodder 

Bermuda grass 

Kentucky bluegrass 

Red clover 

Cowpea vines 

Corn ensilage 



Hay and Other Dry Coarse Fodder. 

Corn stover 

Bermuda hay 

Timothy hay 

Hay of mixed grasses 

Clover hay 

Cowpea vine hay 

Oat straw 

Wheat straw 



Root Crops. 

Turnips 

Sweet potatoes 



Grain Crops and Other Seed. 

Corn 

Oats 

Barley 

Wheat 

Cowpeas 

Cottonseed 



Mill Products. 

Corn meal 

Corn and cob meal 

Corn bran 

Wheat bran 

Wheat middlings . . 
Cottonseed-meal . . 
Cottonseed-hulls . . 



Pounds Pee Hundeed 



79.3 
69 4 
76.6 
71.7 
65.1 
70.8 
83.6 
79.1 



40.5 
9.5 
13 2 
12 9 
15.3 
10.7 
9.2 



90.5 

68.4 



10.9 
11.0 
10.9 
10.5 
12 2 
9.9 



15.0 
15.1 

9.1 
11.9 
12.1 

8.5 
10.5 



1.8 
1.6 
2.6 
2.2 
4.1 
4.4 
2.4 
1.7 



3.8 
8.9 
5.9 
10.1 
12.3 
16.6 
4.0 
3.4 



1,1 
1.9 



10 5 
11.8 
12.4 
11.9 
24.2 
19.4 



9.2 
8.5 
9.0 
15.4 
15.6 
43.3 
4 4 



0,5 
1.6 
0.6 
0.9 
1.3 
1.1 
0.4 
0.8 



1.1 
2.5 
2 5 
2.6 
3.3 
2.2 
2.3 
1.3 



2 

0.7 



5.4 
5.0 
1.8 



3.8 
3.5 
5.8 
4.0 
4.0 
13.5 
2.2 






12.2 
16.8 

6.8 
17.3 
17.6 
13.5 

7.1 
11.0 



31.5 
47.9 
45.0 
41.3 
38.1 
42.9 
42.4 
43.4 



6 2 

26.8 



69.6 

59.7 
69.8 
71.9 
54.4 
23 9 



68.7 
64.8 
62 1 
53.9 
60.4 
22.3 
36.9 



5.0 
8.8 
11.6 
5.9 
9 1 
8.1 
4.8 
6.0 



19.7 
25.0 
29.0 
27.6 
24.8 
20.1 
37.0 
38.1 



1.2 
1.1 



2.1 
9.5 

-2.7 
1.8 
4.3 

22.6 



1.9 
6.6 

12.7 
9.0 
4.6 
5.4 

43.3 



1.2 
1.8 
1.8 
2.0 
2.8 
2.1 
1.7 
1.4 



3.4 
6 2 
4.4 
5.5 
6.2 
7.5 
5.1 
4.2 



0.8 
1.1 



1.5 
3.0 
2.4 
1.8 
3.4 
4.7 



1.4 
1.5 
1.3 
5.8 
3.3 
7.0 
2.7 



APPENDIX 



217 



STOCK-F(X)DS— Continued. 

Table VI. 
Per Cent, of Nutrients Digestible in Stock-Foods. 



NAME OF FOOD 



Green Food and Ensilage. 

Corn fodder , 

Sorghum fodder 

Rye fodder 

Pasture grass 

Clover 

Cowpea vines 

Corn ensilage 

Hay and Other Dry Coarse Fodder. 

Corn stover 

Timothy hay 

Hay of mixed grasses 

Clover hay . . 

Cowpea vine hay 

Oat straw 

Wheat straw 

Moot Crops. 

Turnips 

Potatoes 

Grain Crops and Other Seed. 

Corn 

Oats 

Barley 

Pea meal 

Cottonseed 

Mill Products. 

Com meal 

Com and cob meal 

Wheat bran 

Wheat middlings 

Cottonseed-meal 

Cottonseed-hulls 



DiGKSTIBLE NUTEIENTS 



-S 






























s 


a 








>, 


a> 


e3 


?^ 


o 


o 

u 

p-l 


fe 


S5 


S 


66 


58 


76 


74 


52 


67 


46 


74 


74 


59 


74 


79 


74 


71 


80 


71 


70 


63 


73 


76 


66 


67 


65 


78 


53 


76 


74 


59 


84 


57 


64 


52 


85 


69 


62 


60 


45 


62 


61 


67 


57 


48 


57 


68 


52 


58 


58 


48 


59 


60 


61 


62 


62 


69 


49 


59 


65 


50 


71 


43 


48 


30 


83 


44 


54 


43 


11 


81 


88 


52 


98 


90 


98 


97 


100 


86 


61 




90 




91 


76 


86 


93 


58 


70 


78 


83 


76 


20 


86 


70 


89 


92 


50 


87 


83 


55 


94 


26 


66 


68 


87 


50 


76 


88 


60 


92 


93 




79 


52 


84 


88 


45 


61 


79 


68 


69 


22 


79 


82 


»; 


85 


36 


76 


88 


93 


64 


82 


41 


6 


79 


84 


47 



15 



218 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

STOCK-FOODS— Continued. 

Table VII. 

Average of Digestible Nutrients and Fertilizing Constituents 
in Stock-Foods. 



NAME OF FOOD 



eS o 



Digestible 

Nutrients in 100 

Pounds. 






Fertilizing 

Constituents in 

100 Pounds 



Green Food and Ensilage. 

Corn fodder • 

Sorghum fodder 

Rye fodder 

Kentucky bluegrass 

Red clover 

Cowpea vines 

Corn ensilage 



Hay and Other Dry Coame 
Fodders. 

Corn stover 

Timothy hay 

Hay of mixed grasses 

Red clover 

Cowpea vine hay 

Oat straw 

Wheat straw 



Root Crops. 

Turnips 

Potatoes . . . 



Grain and Other Seed. 

Corn 

Oats 

Barley 

Cowpeas 

Cottonseed 



Mill Products. 

Corn meal . 

Corn and cob meal . 

Wheat bran 

Wheat middlings . . 
Cottonseed-meal . . . 
Cottonseed-hulls .. . 



20.7 
30 6 
23.4 
34.9 
29.2 
l6.4 
20.0 



59.5 

86.8 
87.1 
84.7 
89 3 
90.8 
90.4 



9.5 
31.6 



89.1 
89.0 
89.1 
87.8 
90.1 



85.0 
84.9 
88.1 
87.9 
91.5 
89.5 



1.0 
0.7 
2.1 
3.0 
2.9 
1.8 
0.9 



1.7 
2.8 
5.9 
7.6 
10.8 
1.2 
0.4 



1.0 
1.2 



8.0 
9.2 
8.7 
20.0 
13.2 



5.5 
4.4 
12.2 
12.8 
38.1 
3 



0.4 
1.2 
0.4 
0.8 

0.7 
0.2 

0.7 



0.7 
1.4 
1.2 
2.0 
1.1 
0.8 
0.4 



0.2 



4 6 
4 2 
1.6 
0.8 
16.9 



3.5 

2.9 
2 7 
3.4 
12 6 

1 7 



11.6 
17.6 
14 1 
19.8 
14.8 
8 7 
11 3 



32.4 
43.4 
40-9 
38.4 
39.0 
38 6 
36 3 



6.1 
24.1 



65 9 
47.3 
65.6 
.53.2 
29 1 



63 8 
60.0 
39.2 
53.0 
16.0 
32.9 



0.30 
0.30 
0.53 

6"54 
27 
0.28 



1.10 
1.00 
1.40 
2.00 
2.66 
0.46 
0.60 



19 
0.24 



1.58 
1.65 
1 51 
3.87 
3. 10 



1.58 
1.41 
2.67 
2.63 
6.90 
0.69 



0.15 
0.09 
0.25 

6'i5 
0.10 
0.10 



0.29 
0.50 
0.27 
0.38 
0..52 
0.28 
0.22 



0.09 
0.08 



0.57 
0.69 
0.79 
0.82 
1.05 



0.63 
0.57 
2.89 
0.95 
8.00 
0.25 



0.80 
0.25 
0.70 

o'io 

0.30 
0.37 



1.40 
1.41 
1.55 
2.20 
1.47 
1.77 
0.63 



0.34 
0.37 



0.37 

48 
48 
0.99 
1.09 



0.40 
0.47 
1.61 
0.63 
1.50 
1.02 



APPENDIX 



219 



STOCX-FCXDDS- Continued. 

Table VIII. 

Pounds of Food Required Per Day for 1,000 Pounds Live Weight, 



KIND OF ANIMAL 



Oxen at rest in stall 

Oxen at moderate work 

Fattening cattle 

Milch cows 

Sheep, wool growing 

Sheep, fattening 

Horses, moderate work . . 

Horses, hard work 

Swine, fattening 

Growing Cattle. 

Average live 
Age in wt. per head, 

months. Lbs. 

2-3 150 

3-6 300 

6-12 500 

12-18 700 

18-24 850 





DiGESTIBLK 




Nutrients 
















>, 






m 


u 








o 


'S 


^ 


^^ 










tS 


o 


&H 


oj-a 


o 


Hi 




""^ 


18 


7 


0.1 


8.0 


25 


2.0 


0.5 


11 5 


28 


2.7 


0.6 


15 


28 


2 5 


0.5 


12.0 


20 


1.5 


0.3 


11.0 


29 


3.0 


0.6 


15.0 


22 


1.8 


0.6 


11 


26 


2.5 


8 


13.3 


32 


4.0 


6 


24.0 


22 


4.0 


2.0 


13.8 


23 


3 


1.0 


13 5 


24 


2.5 


0.0 


13.5 


24 


2 


4 


13.0 


24 


1 5 


3 


12.0 



11.8 
6.5 
6.1 
5.3 
7.8 
5.5 
6.9 
6.0 
6.3 



4.7 
5.3 
6.0 
7.0 
8.5 



220 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 

Table IX. 

Troy Weight. 

24 grains 1 pennyweight. 

20 pennyweights 1 ounce. 

12 ounces 1 pound. 

Apothecaries^ Weight. 
20 grains 1 scruple. 

3 scruples 1 drachm. 

8 drachms 1 ounce. 

12 ounces 1 pound. 

Avoirdupois Weight. 

27.34 grains 1 drachm. 

16 drachms 1 ounce. 

16 ounces 1 pound. 

Long Measure. 
12 inches 1 foot. 

3 feet 1 yard. 

5^ yards 1 rod, pole or perch. 

40 rods 1 furlong. 

8 furlongs .1 statute or land mile. 

3 miles 1 league. 

Square or Land Measure. 

144 square inches 1 square foot. 

9 square feet 1 square yard. 

30^ square yards 1 square rod. 

40 square rods 1 rood. 

4 roods 1 acre. 

640 acres 1 square mile. 

Liquid Measure. 

4 gills 1 pint— 28.875 cubic inches. 

2 pints 1 quart^57. 75 cubic inches. 

4 quarts .1 gallon— 231 cubic inches. 

63 gallons 1 hogshead. 

2 hogsheads 1 pipe or butt. 

2 pipes 1 tun. 



APPENDIX 



221 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES— Continuci. 
Dry Measure. 

2 pints 1 quart. 

4 quarts 1 gallon. 

2 gallons 1 peck. 

4 pecks 1 struck bushel. 







Table X. 






The 


Metric System of Weights < 


2nd Measures 




Metric Units 


in English Equivalents : 








Inches. 


Feet. 


Yards. 


Miles. 


Centimeter.. 


. . 0.393685 


0.032807 






Decimeter . . . 


. . 3.93685 


328071 


0.109357 




Meter 


... 39.3685 


3.280711 


1.09363 




Decameter . . , 


...393.685 


32.8071 


10.9357 




Hectometer. 


. . , 


328.071 


109.357 


0.0621347 


Kilometer. . . 





3280.71 


1093.57 


0.6213466 


Myriameter. 





32807.1 


10935.7 


6.213466 



Are— 154988 sq. in., 1076.4 sq. ft., 119.60 sq. yds., 0.0247 acres. 

Hectare— 107.64 sq. ft., 11.960 sq. yds., 2,471 acres. 

Liter— 38.8 fluid ounces, 1.0567 liquid quarts, 0.02838 bushels. 

Gram— 15.43234 grains, 0.03527 ounces avoid., 0.0022 lbs. avoid- 

Kilogram — 2.2 lbs. avoid. 

Foot — 0.3048 meters, 3.048 decimeters, 30.48 centimeters. 

Mile— 1609.344 meters, 1609 kilometers. 

Acre — 40.4685 ares, 0.4046 hectaree. 

Gallon— 3.7854 liters. 

Pound — 0.4535 kilogram, 4.535 hectograms. 

Ton (2,000 lbs.)- 907.1 kilograms, 0.9071 tonne. 

Bushel— 35.237 liters. 



222 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 



Table XI. 
A Cubic Foot is Equal to 
1728 cubic inches. 
0.8036 struck bushels of 2150.42 cubic inches. 
3 2143 pecks. 

7.4805 liquid gallons of 231 cubic inches. 
6.4285 dry gallons. 
29. 922 liquid quarts. 
25.714 dry quarts. 
59.844 liquid pints. 
51.428 dry pints. 
0.2667 barrel of three struck bushels. 
0.2375 liquid barrel of 31 J gallons. 



APPENDIX 223 



Table XII. 

Legal or Customary Weights of a Bushel of Produce in Georgia. 

Articles. Pounds. 

Apples 48 

Apples, dried 24 

Beans, castor 60 

Beans, white 60 

Buckwheat 52 

Corn, ear 70 

Corn, shelled 56 

Onions 57 

Peaches 38 

Potatoes, Irish 60 

Potatoes, sweet 55 

Peas 60 

Bluegrass Seed 14 

Turnips 55 

Wheat 60 

Ground Peas 28 

Cottonseed 32 

Barley 48 

Rye 60 

Eutabagas 60 

Oats 32 



224 AGRICULTURE FOR THE COMMON SCHOOLS 





Table XIII. 




Number 


of Plants per Acre at Different Distances. 




Distances. 


Plants. Distances. 


Plants. 


2 feet X 2 feet 


10,890 8 feet x 8 feet 


680 


2 feet X 3 feet 


7,260 8 feet x 10 feet 


544 


2 feet X 4 feet 


5,445 10 feet x 10 feet 


435 


2 feet X 5 feet 


4,356 10 feet x 12 feet 


363 


2 feet X 6 feet 


3,630 10 feet x IB feet 


290 


3 feet X 3 feet 


4,840 10 feet x 18 feet 


242 


3 feet X 4 feet 


3,630 10 feet x 20 feet 


217 


3 feet X 5 feet 


2,904 20 feet x 20 feet 


108 


3 feet X 6 feet 


2,420 20 feet x 3i) feet 


72 


4 feet X 4 feet 


2,722 30 feet x 30 feet 


48 


4 feet X 5 feet 


2,178 30 feet x 36 feet 


40 


4 feet X 6 feet 


1,185 40 feet x 40 feet 


27 


B feet X 5 feet 


1,742 40 feet x 50 feet 


21 


5 feet X 6 feet 


1,462 40 feet x 60 feet 


18 


6 feet X 6 feet 


1,210 50 feet x 50 feet 


17 


6 feet X 8 feet 


907 





APPENDIX 225 



Table XIV. 
A Few Interesting Facts. 
One bushel of wheat contains about 320,000 grains . 
One bushel of oats contains about 540,000 grains . 
One bushel of cottonseed contains about 125,000 seed. 
Wheat roots will grow in good ground from six to eight 

feet deep. 
Corn roots will grow in good ground from eight to ten 

feet deep. 
Clover roots will grow in good ground from ten to twelve 

feet deep. 
Alfalfa roots will grow in good ground from twelve to 

eighteen feet deep. 
Oats will grow in good ground from eight to ten feet deep. 
Common grass will grow in good ground three to four 

feet deep. 

The following yields per acre have been made and can be 
made again. 

Corn 255 bushels. 

Wheat 80 bushels. 

Oata 125 bushels. 

Barley 80 bushels. 

Buckwheat 75 bushels. 

Potatoes 1329 bushels. 

Turnips 1200 to 1500 bushels. 

Mangels 80 tons. 

Timothy 6 tons at a cutting. 

Bermuda Grass 6 tons at a cuttingj 



FEE 12 1903 




D0DE7735^m 



